Empire of Zero

Ok, so the first part of this Author's note is for the people interested in my other story, 'Avengers of Mass Effect'. If you are not interested in that story, skip to the next bold line. Before anyone asks, no I have not stopped writing for that one, I actually have close to 25k words written for it. The problem is that those words are spread out over a time line (already 9k words and at the moment of writing this I've only just arrived at the 2040's) a ship list chapter (which is currently at 8k and barely more than halfway finished), a faction exposition chapter (which is at roughly 2k words right now) and roughly 6k in words written on the non-space parts of the battle for Shanxi.

The problem is that I cannot use either the faction exposition chapter or the battle for Shanxi part, without a complete time-line and ship list. The problem with completing the Time-Line and ship list, is mainly balancing. You see I already began writing the start of the ship list shortly after I was finished with chapter 2 of the 'Avengers of Mass Effect' story, however back then I only had the information about Mass Effect from playing the third game a long time ago on a friends account after he got tired of it and gave it to me.

Unlike most players, I actually thought the whole late game scenario about the Reapers being controlled by an artificial intelligence that despite its age was acting like a child not understanding that there were always other options to solve problems, and that a large number of factors were involved in pretty much every possible scenario very interesting. This because the explanation given actually made more sense then whatever else I could think of at the time about why the Reapers acted the way they did instead of choosing actually more efficient methods to solve whatever issue they found in everything.

The problem behind this is that while I knew Mass Effect ships weren't very strong, I didn't know just how weak they were in comparison to other ships, and even recent developments in weapon technology. Especially the Mass Effect shit humanity was using at first contact with the Turians. I've ranted about this in one of the chapters there, but apparently for some reason in 2149 we would downgrade our space-vessel weapon arsenal and civilian technology to things that are in many cases actually only slightly more efficient/higher quality then what we have right now, in November 2018. Another thing people seem to misunderstand is the strength of Mass Effect ground weaponry and defences… they are literally only as strong as, hell most of the time weaker than, modern gunpowder weapons. Especially the ones used in the first contact war.

The only advantages they have over current day high-class gunpowder weapons is how easy it is to resupply and how fast the things shoot. Those are literally their only advantages. Hell, the Eezo causing the weapon to give off a large amount of light and heat when firing makes them easy pickings for snipers armed with heat-vision goggles while the stealth cloaks also generate a lot of heat and as far as is told in the games, there is no real solution to this, so anyone with the heat vision settings on their gear turned on should be able to find them much more easily than that they would be able to find somebody that isn't using a tactical cloak at all.

Because of this lacking firepower and easy visibility, the shields are also a lot less important than you would think, since most of the people there seem to depend on shields alone, and these aren't the near invulnerable Star Wars or Halo shields that are near impossible to break without specialized gear or tactics, instead they break pretty fast. Hell anything going below 50 or so kilometres an hour doesn't even activate them and since their vehicles have no armour, somebody attaching a sticky grenade to their tanks or setting up mines will kill the things extremely fast. However the simple fact that both they and their vehicles have shields at all makes people act much more rashly then advisable in a combat situation.

I could see no conceivable reasoning behind this, and thus am now stuck a bit on how powerful I need to make the Mass Effect ships of the Systems Alliance and other Earth nations at said first contact, because it needs to be good enough that they would in a number of fields actually have a good reason to take it over their current technology, but weaker enough that if put in combination with their advantages in fields not related to Mass Effect fields, their defence fleet above Shanxi won't butcher the Turians even though they are also supported by a very accomplished mad scientist, 2 gods and 1 super soldier.

However I also need to keep the Turian ships weak enough that with 30 to 40 years of development afterwards the Reapers are actually still a threat to the Turians in the sense that battles won't become losing Turian Frigates to take down equal numbers Capital ship Reapers, which because of the Galaxy united outproducing the Reapers by far would make it a bloody and relatively long war of attrition that the Galaxy would win eventually even if they didn't change a single damn thing about how they handled themselves during the entire war from the moment it started.

With the fact that the Protheans, who were more advanced then the current galaxy actually lost to the Reapers, I will have to balance everything a lot. And for those who want a HFY fanfiction… just go read a true to canon of both series Mass Effect/ Halo crossover, a single frigate of the UNSC can literally take on a small fleet of council vessels even when it includes a Mass Effect 'Dreadnought' and up to two dozen other ships, even before the UNSC ships get shielding, and somehow that single frigate would be the one with a higher chance to win the battle. Simply because anything short of the Dreadnought itself firing it's main weapon at the UNSC ships the Citadel group would have no conceivable way to actually damage the UNSC ship… everything else would only cause slight dents in the armour. Here ends the part of the Author's note covering 'Avengers of Mass Effect'.

Here starts an explanation about this story, it is somewhat long so if you are uninterested in the why and how beforehand and just want to read the story, skip to the next bold line.
Ok, now onto the Authors note for this story. As you could see in the description this story is going to be a cross-over between the game Empire Total War 1 and the tv show/anime series Familiar De Zero (Zero No Tsukaima). And no, I'm not simply picking up a soldier of Empire Total War or something like that, which while interesting, is something I would like to write one-shots about, not a full story. This simply because if you pick a soldier, it depends largely on what country they are from to what they would do. If you pick one from Great Britain, the United Provinces, the Thirteen Colonies or something like that, you would have a 49/49 chance to get either a rebellion or a familiar sentenced to death, with the 2% chance for all other options put together. Whichever one actually happens mainly depending on what level of competence and charisma you give to the soldier that will be summoned.

On the other hand if you pick one from the Spanish, Spanish protectorates or from the Italian city-states, you'll most likely get somebody that goes into a rage at seeing all those mages and kills one or at the very most two of the children soon after he arrives, then gets himself killed by either Colbert barbecuing him with a wall of fire or Louise firing an explosion spell in self-defence. With other nations you get different things, but they aren't what I want to write a whole story about, though I might just do a one-shot series about this after I figure out how to complete the Avengers of Mass Effect chapters and get somewhat farther into this story.

Now what I'll do in this story is somewhat different, in the way that Saito does get summoned, but while playing Empire: Total War as a beta-tester for some kind of experimental ground-breaking new version of VR gaming sets, and that he's playing with/against a few others. With this however, I'll also add that I'm adding some new units that can be recruited, to this simulation, mainly to guide the plot a bit more to something resembling the actual title.

And no I haven't got any plans of making Louise rise in rebellion to become the new self-appointed Empress of Tristain(yet), its more that I've seen relatively few stories where Louise actually becomes the leader of a large scale movement/army even though as a high-ranking member of nobility with some combat experience and a much higher level of competence at pretty much everything not related to regular magic than 98% of the nobility seen in the series that is extremely strange.

Her fanatical loyalty to both the country and its ruling family in combination with her families position in nobility alone should have guaranteed her a high-ranking position somewhere in any actual medieval/ early renaissance era country, add to that her work ethic and the fact that her main magical ability causes her to be able to function as a highly mobile, talking and intelligent artillery piece on a battlefield and her abilities in the fields of administration would cause her to be an excellent minister of finance, high ranking tax collector or even the head of any kind of advisory group for the Princess/Queen. Or really even multiple of them at once if they need somebody that's a jack of all trades.

There is a relatively good reasoning why this wasn't explored fully in the series itself, but I do not understand why so few people explore any of it in fanfiction. One big warning, because of these themes, the story will have a more serious note to it then most of the Tsukaima No Zero fanfictions seem to have, though there will be some humorous moments here and there still. Here ends the explanation about the why behind me writing this story and what the general theme of it will be.

Anyway as most of you probably want to start on the story and not read any more of me talking about this, here is the disclaimer:

I do not own anything related to the Zero No Tsukaima franchise, nor will I probably ever do so, with the only thing I own in this story being the OC's I introduce. For the Total War side of this, I only own a digital copy from Empire Total War (plus most of its DLC's) and a CD Gold version of Rome Total War, and a such I do not own the actual rights to anything, that is in the capable hands of Creative Assembly (though I was at one point not so sure about that capability when they made Rome Total War 2, but hey, they managed to do much better again afterwards, so they're still the most capable at handling strategy games in my opinion) I also do not make any money off of this story in any way, shape or form.

''Language''= Text written like this means that it is a language not fully understood by the person who's POV is being used (for instance while Saito might know a few words French, he doesn't understand the full language, meaning that anything said in it will be written in cursive if seen from his perspective, while he fully understands English, Korean, Japanese and a few other languages which will as such just be written down as English.)
Language= Text written like this a form of mental communication. For instance the whole VR to reality transition will cause the generals to develop slight psychic bonds with their troops. Not hive-mind level psychic connection, but closer to the level of Jean Grey connecting all X-men team members through their minds connection.

Language= Text usually involving someone trying to forcibly have another person either submit or perform an action through active mind control. Will also be used by both sides during both such a battle if it causes supernatural powers to be exhibited in the outside world and during a supernaturally powerful feat of magic. With supernatural powers I don't mean somewhat powerful regular magic but more like as in close to Godlike levels of supernatural power (like say teleporting a large group of people between worlds while also granting a large number of them actual physical bodies and life).

Chapter 1: A glimmer of hope in the darkness

Time and Date: 12.00 Local Time, 1st of November 2018, Planet: Earth, Country: Great Britain, Location: 10 kilometres out of London, Creative Assembly VR testing headquarters

Saito POV

Ok so lets see, what nation and units should I select for this match. ''Hey boss, where there any units we haven't tested extensively yet? With the amount of testing we have done in the past few weeks on if the handling system of controlling both your own player body and the army units functions correctly, we might as well hit two birds with one stone and immediately test on how some of the new units scale up against older ones when using that system.''

''Not too bad of an idea actually, I like it. Ok so some of the ones we have yet to test are the new units from the United Provinces faction, to be more specific the blue guard dragoons, the settler infantry and the marine infantry.'' As soon as he finished I heard Piet say ''Can I get that one? I always loved to play that faction.'' Brandon answered pretty quickly ''Sure, as long as the others don't have a problem with it, though it is on the condition that you choose the dragoons as your general unit, we're not sure if the kinks with that have been worked out fully yet.'' Nobody had a real problem with it, and he got the United Provinces as his faction for this match.

''Ok the next faction we have new units of that need testing is the British Empire, with them it's the royal marines, marine infantry and settler infantry. For the record I wish to say immediately, the settler infantry from each nation has the same stats in combat, however they all have different special abilities both during battles and on the campaign maps. Marine infantry however is for both the Dutch and the British the same, though ones from other countries are slightly different.'' Hmm those royal marines might be interesting, I'll choose the British. Will be fun to learn what each factions settler infantry and marine infantry actually do. ''Hey boss, I'll take the British for this battle, at least if the others don't mind?'' Like with Piet, nobody really had a problem with it.

''Ok, that's two down with two more to go. The other two we still have units to do more tests for today are from the factions France and the Italian States. For the French it's the royal musketeers, settler infantry and marine infantry. For the Italian States it's the papal guard, papal guard dragoons and religious volunteers. Who wants which one?'' Wait a second, what? ''Since when are the Italian states even a playable faction in the game?''

''Oh in the main game they aren't, but we decided we needed to give them some specialised units like we did with the other non-playable factions, simply so that they would actually be a more dangerous force to fight against. They will also appear as actual playable factions in some new DLC's we'll add to the VR version of the game. You'll test some of those next week.'' Ok, a bit strange but not really a problem. A nice touch really, now they will almost certainly be a more interesting than they were before this.

''I'll take the Italian States, always nice to try something new, if Pierre doesn't mind?'' Steve does always like to try new things, not a bad quality really. Though the fact that most of the time it is a cover to hide his pain behind instead of genuine interest is sad to think about. ''I don't mind mon ami(my friend), wanted to try how it felt to be in a 18th century French military uniform in VR anyways. We always did have a very good sense of style, even back then.''

Ah Pierre, the ex-military giant from France that was always ready to get into an argument to defend it. Not really a problem for me, since I understood him and would probably act the same if somebody decided to insult Japan for no reason in front of me. Now that I think about it, most of the other candidates in this VR project including my three colleagues here are giants in comparison to me, with me being 173 centimetres or 5 foot 8 inches as the locals would call it.

All three of the others are roughly 190 centimetres or 6 foot 3 inches, maybe they wanted to be certain the things worked as well on very tall people as on somewhat more average height from me and relatively short people with Felicia and Arnold from testing group 6? Food for thought after we're finished with this, though I am looking forward to how the battle will go with these new units and what those so called 'special abilities' of the settler infantry are.

''Ok boss so boss to recap, the battle was a two vs two of me and Piet against Pierre and Steve right with all of us now using at least one of each of the new units and only 1 artillery unit max and a 7k budget limit? With both sides first getting 5 minutes to adjust to the feeling of being in a VR generated body and command seat of a mentally connected army again like we've done for the past two weeks?''

''Yes Saito, that was the plan.'' Brandon replied ''ok so everyone ready to enter the VR chairs?'' ''Sir Yes Sir!'' we answer collectively, causing him to laugh ''No need to be smartasses about it guys. Let's get this show on the road.''

Roughly 1 hour earlier

Time and Date: 12.00 local time day of Water of the 12th week of 6000 A.B. (After Brimir), Country: Tristain, Location: Tristain Academy of Magic.

3rd person POV

A young looking girl walks out of the Headmaster's office at Tristain Academy of Magic, looking very troubled and visibly filled with self-loathing. Her torment isn't over yet however as she is confronted by someone she wished would just disappear from her life ''And Zero, did they throw you out yet? Did they finally realize that you aren't a proper true mage?'' The girl, though annoyed by the mockery, doesn't seem to have the energy to really reply to it ''No Kirche, they decided that it was the teachers mistake, not mine, with that she should have been warned by my extreme reluctance to comply and the warnings given by all other students, so I will be let off with only having to clean up the classroom as punishment.''

Both of the other girls, one now known as Kirche with the others name still being a mystery, seemed shocked and extremely annoyed at this fact ''What! Why in Brimir's name would they let you get away with this Vallière! We all know that you won't summon anything during the Familiar Summoning Ritual this afternoon anyways, so why do they even bother keeping you here until then?'' This seems to finally awaken a fire in the girl whom we now know is called Louise ''Just you watch Montmorency the Flood, I will summon a familiar many times the superior to either of yours, a dragon or something even more capable! That I swear or my name is not Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière!'' After this she storms away from the two, presumably to be alone to prepare herself for the summoning.

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Louise POV
Oh Brimir why did I do that! 'A dragon or something even more capable!', yeah right, the only thing I'm likely to summon is a giant explosion and maybe some dust. As I open the door to my room I feel like I'm left with only a single option, pray as much as possible before going there and hoping for the best. The moment my door is closed I fall to my knees before my bed and start repeating a single prayer ''Lord Brimir, I know my sins to magic are many, but I beg for your assistance, please let me summon something, anything to prove myself a real mage, no matter what it is as long as it is something!''

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(?) POV
Descendant of Brimir in distress, situation in Halkeginia overall worse than expected, child will need capable guardians. Searching for options, no, no, no. Wait. Yes, this is close to perfect. Will promote her belief in herself, give leadership and diplomatic experience, potential training in the art of war but most importantly, a capable army to guard her and enable her to survive long enough to become who this world needs her to be. This will be done, in the name of the creator we will succeed so his heir can lead the people of Halkeginia to victory!

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Time and Date: 12.05 Local Time, 1st of November 2018, Planet: Earth, Country: Great Britain, Location: 10 kilometres out of London, Creative Assembly VR testing headquarters, specifically the VR chamber.

Saito POV

Hmm ok, lets see, the settler infantry costs 700 per unit, for their regular stats expensive but their abilities and high morale make them more then worth it, I'll take two of those. Royal marines are 1250 per unit, I'll also take one of those, I don't know the map yet so their ability might be somewhat useful, but while on the actual campaign map a multitude of them is more than worth it, but in here they aren't. I'll take a 24-Iber foot howitzer at 650. That's 3300 so far, let's see what I can scramble together from the remaining 3700.

One unit of Ferguson riflemen at 840, one unit of regular British line infantry at 1140, one British marines unit at 900 and a generals bodyguard unit at 800. Wait didn't all of those cost much less in the regular game. ''Ehm a question, why are the unit prices so high? Both in-game and in multiplayer combat all of these used to cost a lot less?''

The others made agreeing sounds, after which Brandon replied ''We just took the prices from the steam wiki for this one unlike the other fights because we need to determine if the prices for our new units are balanced in comparison to those base prices instead of the somewhat altered ones on the multiplayer of the regular original game.''

Ok with that question answered, which causes the prices to make much more sense, my army is complete. Even with them being so expensive relatively seen, due to the nature of how the VR works, if I want to use a cavalry unit as my command/general unit, it needs to be either some type of dragoon unit or a generals bodyguard unit, because of the simply fact that they give most of the same morale bonusses to my infantry troops as using an infantry unit general does while allowing for the mobile aspect of cavalry.

This is partially caused by the game but mostly by me, as my personal character, has a large amount of experience leading infantry into a victorious battle while being in either generals bodyguard type unit or a dragoon unit, and partially caused by the game as when fighting as infantry and in a slightly lesser form dragoons you get automatic bonuses for 'being down on the ground' with the men.

On the other hand if you have your command unit be a cavalry unit of any type or in again a lesser form the dragoon unit, you get a bonus for being part of 'the most elite branch of the army'. At least that's how the horseman in the game consider it according to the unit descriptions. ''By the way, is there a reason behind the Royal marines not having a historical or lore friendly description yet?'' Brandon seemed to think for a moment since there was no reply to my question for a moment, but afterwards he answered ''As far as I know the main reason is that we wanted to test first if their battlefield add-ons actually have an effect and if their ships actually consistently work at all on the campaign map.

You guys are literally the first ones to test these troops, unlike the settler infantry where some of them from other nations have already been tested and shown that the mechanics themselves work. If there is a yes to both those questions they will design a text for it, but right now we just have enough general information to give you a way to quickly consider if they are or aren't worth it recruiting.'' Reasonable answer, will be looking forward to what said description will say though. Might even get a chance to assist in creating it, which would be a really nice thing to work on.

''Okay so I see that everyone is done selecting their troops, I'll bring up the troops on your HUD's right now, after you've looked those over for a minute we'll start the deployment phase of the battle.'' Hmm ok so let's see, what did Piet choose as his units? Ok so 1 blue guard dragoon with an experience shiver as his general unit, understandable decision since nearly all of his fights in the past 2 weeks had him as the commander of a dragoon unit leading mostly infantry based armies as part of the vs tests. His other units are 1 settler infantry, 1 marine infantry, 1 blue guard infantry, 1 unit of 24 lber Foot Artillery and 1 riflemen unit. Hmm now we do have a slight problem of only our generals being cavalry units and also both our armies being quality focused groups instead of quantity, but we should be fine.

Now what do our opponents have in store for us? Ok this can be either very bad or very good, Pierre seems to have chosen the opposite direction from everyone else, with him going for an army with a large amount of cavalry. Pierre has a general bodyguard unit as his command unit, with 1 royal musketeer, 1 settler infantry, 1 marine infantry and 1 unit of régiments étrangers as his infantry units, with then 1 gendarmerie, 1 chevaux-légers and lastly 1 unit of chasseurs à cheval as his cavalry detachment. The large amount of cavalry is somewhat understandable though, considering most of his fights have him as the commanding officer of extremely mobile armies, which are usually centred around a large amount of cavalry.

And then there is Steve with 1 unit of Papal guard dragoons, which is also his command unit, 1 unit of Papal guard infantry, 2 units of religious volunteers, 1 unit of rocket troops and lastly 1 unit of 24 lber-foot artillery. That rocket troop can be a problem, now we might be forced to advance against him instead of simply waiting him out. Hmm a bit strange for him to choose the dragoons as his command unit, normally he doesn't use any cavalry at all, but maybe he wanted his general to be more mobile this time? That would make some sense since it is now a larger battlefield then it has been at any time in the past two weeks. Though to be honest we're lucky its a land battle, if we had to do a naval one we would be wrecked with him being the only one with any actual positive traits solely meant for naval battle.

Hmm ok though now with this all visible there is one area where Piet and I have a large advantage, our light infantry, though sadly enough we won't be able to use that advantage to its fullest extent because of the large cavalry advantage that our opponents possess. Especially since we are going to be forced to be the attacking side since with that rocket troop and the fact that there is no time limit they could theoretically just wait us out while shelling us to hell with unguided rockets.

Luckily both Piet and I seem to have the same idea on where to deploy our troops, at the very edge of our territory, as close as possible to the opponents area. I send a message to Piet and he agrees to use our marine infantry to create a distraction while we use that time to position our artillery in such a way that it can actually target the opposing army if they have decided to position their forces too far into their lands to be hit by our artillery. While at the same time we position our settler infantry as such that in case they have positioned closer to perform a surprise all or nothing charge with their cavalry and infantry, we will have an easily defendable position to centre our formation around. We will need to target their cavalry immediately with our artillery if that happens though, considering they can otherwise just break through parts of our defensive formation with them and corner our units suited less for close quarters combat.

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3rd Person

We switch to an eagle eye view of the battlefield, and see both sides prepared for battle in their personal formations. However while all test participants and are focused on the battlefield itself and their boss focuses on the participants biological readings, mostly on the neurological readings, nobody notices that a strange energy begins gathering in the chamber where the VR pods are located. When they finally do it will be too late to change anything about it.

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Time and Date: 13.05 local time day of Water of the 12th week of 6000 A.B. (After Brimir), Country: Tristain, Location: Tristain Academy of Magic.

Louise POV

Why did Zerbst have to do this to me, just why. I'm going to fail, my magic hasn't worked until now, how would it suddenly start working just because I made a ridiculous declaration about summoning a dragon or something better. I feel like I'm about to collapse right here and die just from the shame of this, just why!
Suddenly a feeling of steel overtook her. No matter what, I'll see this through, I will summon a familiar that will utterly demolish all their ideas and estimations about this. I am a De La Vallière, we are the rule of steel given personification, the swords and shields of the kings and queens! No matter what, I'll prove worthy of Henrietta's trust and become her defender, even if the entire world is against it, I will succeed!

''My warriors that exists somewhere in this universe, my wise and powerful familiars, I summon thee to stand by your leader in her time of need, answer my call!''

As I aim my wand and the circle starts glowing I feel more powerful then that I have ever been, it might be an extremely unusual call but I do not care, it feels right. Just then a green oval starts to form, at first it is roughly the size of a human being, but it grows fast until it is hundreds of metres wide and at least a dozen metres high, yes its working! Then it explodes, sending me back in a gust of wind.

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? POV, moments before Louise starts chanting

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The creator's heiress suddenly became much more steadfast, she seems much stronger but most importantly: raw magic started swirling around her, as if it could feel the storm this one is destined to one day become. Ok so I will not need to aid much there, just offer a slight bit of guidance to her without her knowing, this will most likely enhance the effect I had in mind greatly, lets see, I'll have ensure those warriors in that field are selected, even if they are without magic, such an army will almost certainly serve the heiress very well.

Ensure that the bodies of both the ones they become and the ones they are mixed together with both of them strengthening each-other, while the mind will be the one they are, with only knowledge of the ones they become added separately. And done. This should serve her well.

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3rd person POV

Like Louise had personally expected after that, most of her so called ''Peers'' started jeering, mocking her choice of words or her in their eyes inability with magic and her right to be called a member of Nobility. However, those of higher mental capacity then the ones currently mocking her and those with a better ability to sense magic were now looking at the smoke, staring at what she had summoned. Or to be more specific the 2 different groups of beings that she had summoned.

''Silence you idiots!'' came the shout from Professor Colbert, who now had his staff aimed at the veritable army that became more easily visible every second as the smoke started to thin and the dust started to fall back down to the ground. ''She did most certainly summon something, she summoned at least two armies that seem to be arrayed against each-other, potentially because they are about to fight each-other in a battle that we would be caught in as bystanders! Everyone retreat towards the castle, Montmorency alert the other teachers and the guards, Gramont summon golems and have them form a defensive line on my position to cover your retreat. Once you are closer to the school and they haven't attacked yet, retreat them to the school and have them hold the entrance.'' When nobody seemed to react he yelled ''Right now!''

After this they did act, with all students except for Louise, Tabitha and Kirche following his orders. The last three instead decided to stay with Colbert, Tabitha to gain more information on this situation, Louise to cover the retreat and lastly Kirche because she was simply very interested in how the professor had started acting and was always in for some more action in her life.

The Professor seemed to ready himself to argue with them, took one more look at the army on the opposing side of the field, and decided it was more important to be ready for an action of any kind from the groups towards them rather than start an argument he already knew he wouldn't win.

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Saito POV

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Ugh, what happened, the last thing I remember is setting up a defensive line and the next thing I know is hearing a voice.. what did it say again?
/Flashback/ ''Mon guerriers qui est livre en un location dans la univers, mon familiar sage et puissant, vous est sommer pour la assistance de votre commandant en sa temps dire, répondre à mon appel!'' Ok what the hell? I need to know if something is going wrong, this could be very bad ''Did you guys also just hear a voice saying something in what seemed to be French with a strange accent or is something wrong with one of my troops?'' I asked.

''You're not the only one, what was that about?'' Steve replies, followed by Piet ''I also heard it, and I can have this wrong but I think she said that she was 'summoning her warriors to her side in her dark hour' I think? Pierre, can you confirm or deny that and Brandon is this part of the simulation?'' Pierre immediately answered ''Close enough, she pretty much said ''My warriors that exist somewhere, I'm summoning you to my side to assist me in my time of need.''

Everything else were some strange mix of complements about our capabilities and declaring herself our leader.'' He seemed to want to say more but was interrupted by a panicked Brandon ''Log out of the simulation immediately, whatever the hell is happening is generating a strange energy centred in the VR room that has a high chance of having the same effect as an overdose of nuclear radiation!'' Shit! Ok so ''Aaah!'' Pain, oh god the damned pain! What the hell was that! /Flashback end/

Ok so that is what happened. Ugh, lets try standing up I might still be caught inside the VR room. Wait a second… this is not the VR room. Not by a long shot. This is an open field bordering on a forest, though our armies from the VR simulation are still here. Wait.. our armies from the VR simulation are still here even though we're somewhere completely different? This is Pierre to everyone that is still receiving it, tell your armies to stand down! We've been transported somewhere, I do not know where, but what I do know is that there is a group of humans with all kinds of supernatural creatures as pets of some sort relatively close by that are now retreating slowly towards a castle. One of these beings, I do not know whether the humans or the non-humans, is probably the cause of us being here, and might have had dark intentions with us, we need to form up together to defend ourselves.

He's right, we need to work together, let's hope that the troops will still listen to me. All troops of the British Empire, stand down! Do not engage the Italian or French troops, they are some of the few things we can recognize in this place we've been transported to, and possibly our only hope of survival lays into assisting each-other. Potential enemies are to our south-east, turn our formation in their direction and expect assistance from the United Provinces on our side of the defensive line, while the settler infantry will split, 1 unit remains with us and starts setting up our defences, one unit goes to where-ever the Italians form up and sets up defences for them.

While I mentally heard Piet and Steve give the same orders to their own soldiers, my forces replied in the open by yelling ''Sir, yes sir!'' and following my orders, shortly followed by a ''Jawel commandant!'' and a ''Sì comandante!'' being given by Piet's and Steve's forces respectively, since Pierre's had already been informed before mine.
Ok, so I have an idea for a strategy for a potential coming battle, my gendarmerie, chevaux-légers and general unit will set up on our eastern flank or in other words the left flank, while my chasseurs à cheval, Steve's Papal guard dragoons and Saito's command unit set up on the western flank or in other words the right one, while Piet's unit rides to the centre and has his command unit form the centre of our line.

Meanwhile our non-ranged marine units form a backup unit that will charge into any breech in our lines or if our cavalry gets in heavy weather assist them in their battle. Meanwhile we put our light infantry on the outer edges of our infantry line to attempt to funnel them into attacking our main line, with our movable artillery on that small hill just behind what will be the centre of our line, to shoot over our troops and into the opposing army if it comes to a fight.

Then let the Dutch and the British regular infantry form up as the western part of the line, with the Blue guard infantry directly next to Piet's command unit, and on the eastern side my remaining infantry and the Italian troops forming up on that side, with the Papal guard infantry right next to Piet's command unit. Meanwhile we have our settler infantry build defences at the infantry positions until the battle starts, like Saito already ordered his troops to do. While the plan isn't perfect, it's the best I can think of quickly enough to actually matter.

I've got to admit, a pretty decent plan that you've got there Pierre. Everyone agreed?

Yeah Piet is right, Pierre's plan is better then really much of anything I can think of that can also be implemented fast enough to work right now. Agreed, lets do it and Let's get to it then were mine and Steve's responses respectively.

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Louise POV

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''Oh founder damnit, they stopped any kind of aggression against each-other and now seem to consider us or at the very least the castle behind us as more of a threat. This isn't good.'' Professor Colbert is right, they are still moving, but now not against each-other but to form a defensive position of sorts. There have to be thousands of soldiers in that formation… wait a moment, even if this comes out peacefully I will have stolen an army from either multiple Nobles, or even a multitude of nations. And since their commanders are most likely Nobles, I might even have caused a war! This is not good. Though I don't recognize the flags they are using for some reason? Wait that gives me an idea. That might very well redeem me diplomatically seen.

''Does anyone recognize any of those flags?'' ''No.'' ''Most certainly not.'' ''Not really, though Louise, you did make good on that promise of summoning something more capable then a single dragon, congratulations.'' Wait did Kirche just compliment me? ''Thank you Zerbst, but now is really not the time. Lets talk about that after this all is over.'' I thought it over for a moment ''Professor, what since this might be a first contact scenario, isn't it a good idea to try to set up some kind of diplomatic meeting? To try to get them to communicate with us peacefully?'' He seemed to think for a moment before he came to a decision. ''Starting some kind of diplomatic meeting is important, but how can we possibly convince them of our non-aggression towards them? For all we know they might not even speak any language that we know of.''

''Have had listening spell up since the start, one group shouted their acknowledgement of a command in accented Tristanian. Should be able to converse with that group.'' Was Tabitha's surprising answer. Surprising more in the way of the fact that she said so many words in one sentence then anything else, this is about as many as all I have heard her say in total before today put together. ''The group is the one with the largest amount of mounted forces.'' This put Professor Colbert's worries to rest at least somewhat, so he let out a relieved sigh and said ''I'll use a loudspeaker spell to signal that we want to have a peaceful conversation and negotiate with them, however be on your watch in case they decide to betray that. Miss Zerbst, Miss d'Orleans, leave your familiars here please, we don't know how they might react to each-other.'' He whispered a spell I couldn't understand and started his message.

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Saito POV

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''Bonjour les armée au notre Nord, nous sont les représentatives de la nation Tristain, et nous…'' He went on for a while with that but I couldn't hear him very well, having switched over to my mental link with the others that Piet was now translating the entire thing through for our entire army to hear, in the meantime Steve and I were holding the connection together for the different armies, preparing in case this was an attempt to get our guards down, while Pierre was going to act as the one to initiate conversation from our side if immediately necessary ''wish for peace between our groups to exist, so if it is no problem to you, could we have a diplomatic meeting in the field that is between your force and our location, with a small group of your leaders and a few guards numbering 8 in total meeting with me and 3 ambassadors of the nobility from surrounding nations?''

Ok so we're in a nation that still has some kind of nobility as actually important figures instead of it being little more then a nice title to add to your name, while said country also has at least some neighbours with a similar enough system for them to be recognized as at least somewhat close in standing to their local counterparts. Damnit this can be either really bad or really good, depending on what causes them to be classified as nobility. If its titles and something to do with birth-right alone, it can be a big problem for us.

If it is a more mobile social system where capabilities, connections and brute force are more important, either I or Pierre can claim to be part of our countries nobility ourselves. Piet and Steve actually look slightly more like a being of noble blood according to most standards back home and would theoretically be able to infiltrate a bloodline-type noble society, but they would blow the game by acting rashly the moment the nobles here start talking shit about how they are superior to our troops because they were born into power which would most likely in some way betray the fact that they aren't nobility at all.

All agreed to go for diplomacy first?

I asked the others, to which piet replied with Yes, though we can't all go, one of us needs to stay behind in case this is a trap. I vote Steve stays behind and takes temporary command of the all remaining cavalry including our personal units so that he can rush to our defence or cover our retreat if something goes wrong. As guards we'll take some guys from Pierre's unit, they'll understand what the locals are saying and will thus be less likely to cause a diplomatic incident.

Piet's reply made sense, Steve was also the only one among our group that only knew two languages, while Piet, I and Pierre all were fluent in 3 at least languages, while fully capable of understanding a fourth and fifth with enough knowledge to get the general idea of what was being said with a sixth. And considering Piet was fluent in French while it was Pierre's first language, with between them covering close to all European related languages, I would be able to cover a number of Asiatic languages, so we should be alright communication wise, unless somebody decides to start talking in Swahili or something like that.

Agreed that does seem to be the best option we currently have so good luck you guys, you'll probably need it.

Well luckily nobody seems to have fallen back into a depression yet despite the situation, thank Kami. Thank you for the vote of confidence Steve I know that that is a hidden insult but I'll just accept it in good grace to waste less time. Was the reply he got from Piet. We waited for a moment for Piet to mount up and join us, with the three of us and 5 of our soldiers heading out to meet what seemed to be a middle aged man and three teenage girls from this distance? Not what I expected from a group of ambassadors but alright. Well that young woman with pink hair is all but visibly radiating some kind of supernatural power, and both the old man and the blue haired girl have the look and stances of war veterans prepared for battle.

And all of them have some kind of wand or staff in hand… oh hell no we've arrived in some kind of fantasy world with magical members of their society as part of the nobility… please let magic not be the decider on whether or not you are part of the Nobility in this country, because then the option of using a plan that involves posing as Nobility for any extended period of time is down the drain. However… it did open up a whole other avenue we haven't really considered yet since this place doesn't seem to be very advanced in the traditional sense, so instead of simply them being highly technoligcally capable people with archaic styles of architecture that used some kind of teleporter to bring us here they will probably have brought us here through some kind of supernatural ability.

Guys, I have a plan for how to play this whole diplomatic approach thing, that is also suited to all our personalities and capabilities at least to some level and as such should play to our strengths. It should also reveal them if they understand certain other languages perfectly fine and are trying to hide it for some reason or the other.

Let's hope they accept to listen at least. Well my friend lets hear it, we could use something like that. Ok Pierre agrees thats one problem out of the way I m in agreement with Pierre, let's hear what you have in mind.

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Louise POV

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Up close what seemed to be the three leaders of these groups cut impressive figures, finely clothed, all a certain amount taller then the average Halkeginian, with two of them only just shy of being giants, weapons at the ready in case there is a fight. Though I do not see wands or wands-swords anywhere, just regular if finely made swords and one of them seems to have either an harquebus or a musket on his back?

Maybe they use a differing type of focus, like those regular swords somehow or that musket shaped thing on their back? Or possibly much worse, they are from a barbaric country like Germania were commoners can be elevated to nobility if they have enough financial resources… sigh I can speculate all I want but until a conversation starts I won't know anything. Ok so now that we are close enough I can see that outside of that one man they all seem to have those swords on them as their only weapons, curious.

Once we reach them, the very tall, dark haired, fair skinned man on the from our perspective left side of the group dismounts and steps forward a bit more, before he starts talking. ''Ok, so I believe introductions are in order, I am general Pierre de Alain, with my colleagues general Piet van Vlimmeren'' The other very tall but dark haired and fair skinned man on the right gave a nod from the back of his horse ''and general Saito Hiraga.'' The dark haired man with a slightly different skin colour in the middle dismounted and gave a slight bow, then seemed to say something to the man still on horseback.

''My friend, I think it is a more peaceful gesture to dismount for the conversation. Also we're in what is probably a medieval or renaissance era world and there are three young ladies, show a bit of courtesy towards them since in their culture the whole ''Gallant Knight'' thing is probably still a lot more present then it is back home and we should make a good first impression on these lovely ladies.''

This 'Piet van Vlimmeren' then made a sound that couldn't be interpreted anything other than a sigh and also dismounted, giving a slight bow to us. Then while I was watching that the shorter man had walked up to me, taken my hand in his and placed a slight kiss on top of it, before doing the same to both Kirche and Tabitha, surprising all of us.

''I apologize if my colleague's behaviour is too forward, he is a part-time historian, and this place seems to currently be at a point in time that was centuries past from how it is back home.'' Was said this 'Pierre de Alain', who was seemingly the spokesman of the group. Something about this sentence seemed to get the interest of Professor Colbert ''A historian in command of an army? And what do you mean centuries in the past?'' At this point this 'Saito Hiraga' apparently realized at least most of us couldn't understand him and started talking to 'Piet van Vlimmeren' about something too fast to hear, much to the latter's visible frustration.

''Shut up for a moment if you want me to ask them your questions Hiraga, unlike Pierre I had to learn this language as my third one instead of the first which makes it much harder to make myself understandable to people using an accented version of it.'' Piet van Vlimmeren said to Saito Hiraga', then turned to us ''I hate to agree with General Hiraga, but he does make a good point. Could you please introduce yourselves before we take these talks any further so that we actually know who we are dealing with?'' A reasonable request, I'll start this time around.

''My name is Louise de la Vallière, a Noble from Tristain, and in the current situation both one of its representatives and the person that accidentally transported you and your soldiers here with my magic during the summertime familiar summoning ritual.'' Now I just have to hope we can talk about that like civilized people and that they won't just attack me. They seemed to be too stunned to form an actual reply for the moment, Kirche continued ''I am Kirche von Zerbst and I'm a Germanian Noble, though I must say I'm quite surprised that a de la Valliere would summon so many good looking males to serve her, I love the passion behind the idea, good job Louise!'' Oh founder damnit, Zerbst why do you insist on making the situation worse.

''My name is Jean Colbert, a professor at the Tristanian academy of magic, the grounds were we currently reside on are owned by said academy and all three of the young ladies here are part of its student body.'' After that Tabitha gave the last reply ''Greetings. Tabitha d'Orleans. Gallia.'' After that last reply they finally shook off their confusion and now two of these generals were extremely wary while looking at me, while their troops seemed to regard me with something like … hope?

Can't be sure though, that might be an act. The one exception to all this behaviour though was the man called Saito. He ran up to me, took my hand in his and started asking all kinds of question I couldn't understand while looking at me like he was a scholar and I was a very rare and important book that gave fountains of knowledge he hadn't heard of before.

''How did you create a portal that summoned us? Was the act of summoning a human in general intentional or did you actually want to summon something else? At what age is this usually held? How long do you have to train for it? Is it supposed to summon beings from other dimensions? How did you bring the simulated troops to life? How advanced is this spell seen as in your society? Is there supposed to be such a difference in attire between students with how Miss Zerbst wears it, even though yours and Miss d'Orleans attire are near exactly the same? If not, then is she actually a student here or just a stripper hired by this teacher? If the last is true, then why hasn't he been fired yet? Or is he some kind of family member of the leader of this academy which enables him to do whatever he wants?''

I was just staring at him, not understanding a word of what he was saying, which apparently was at least somewhat interesting or funny since one of the soldiers started coughing in a way that usually hides laughter, while Mr. Piet was once against sighing and shaking his head. Though the fact that all the attention of a general that was also learned enough to be considered a historian was on me alone and not on say Zerbst or professor Colbert was somewhat flattering, the whole not understanding the actual questions of the most talkative member of their group was quickly becoming extremely annoying. ''Eh?''

Luckily enough for me, the man named Pierre was more then willing to reply while Piet pulled Saito back and seemed to start berating him. ''I apologize once again for his behaviour, just the fact that we are now here with so many things we've never seen before is making him over-exited. Let me start this by answering your earlier question, the reason why I said centuries ago is because while our clothing style and gear might be somewhat similar to what is used in this country, in our own world it was used centuries ago.

The only reason why we are currently using this is because we were testing a new battlefield simulator, and for the experience we had selected a battlefield from centuries ago, including the simulated soldiers, our own simulated gear, the simulated horses, etcetera. We had just formed our lines and thought out our plans for the upcoming battle when you interrupted us just before the battle started. This was very lucky for you, if you had summoned us even a minute later, bullets and cannonballs would have been flying around and we would have been forced to assume you were computer generated enemies that the technicians behind the program use sometimes to test specific assets of the simulator.''

Before he could go further in his explanation that idiot von Zerbst spoke up ''Isn't it more that you were lucky? We are mages, you people are as far as I can see just commoners with somewhat better muskets and swords, we would have just rained down spells on you and won without losing anything more than a few familiars and maybe Louise here since she can't really do much with her magic'' That was really… the most stupid thing she could have said at this point in time, even if she was only joking which I'm doubting right now.

Given the looks being given to her by both Tabitha and the professor, they agree with me on that point for the most part. Even if he's only a commoner he's an armed soldier with the facial scars to prove that he's seen battle, and especially if they are commoners it is much more likely that they have earned their positions through skill and experience instead of being given the position because they had important relatives somewhere in their respective governments. Even more so considering he just mentioned that they were testing a new type of device that could somehow summon the capabilities of long dead soldiers to fight by their sides to train officers in battle, meaning that they are most likely some of the best and brightest their country has.

On our side on the other hand would have been a group of barely prepared school children, with familiars that are so unused to their masters that they would have been nearly as much of a problem as an asset to our side, with the only really useful mages that aren't here already here being De Gramont with his golems and Montmorency with her ability as a magical healer. The remainder might have some magic to use in classes but they really aren't anywhere near fast enough with it in real life situations to use it properly in battle.

''Watch your tongue you weak fool, you are the least threatening of all those gathered here, on both sides. All our men are trained and experienced soldiers, you like nearly all of those that left fast when we arrived are little more than a child using a power you don't know much about. You might be experienced in using it in a classroom sure, but have you stood fighting while around you your comrades are dying by the dozens, do you have any experience in fighting on when you have already been hit multiple times by all kinds of weapons and projectiles, or when the person next to you explodes into dozens of parts because of an explosive cannonball ripping them open and spewing their blood on you?! Have you?!''

Piet now had his sword drawn and was towering over Zerbst, who had fallen to the ground and was scrambling back to avoid him while whimpering in fear until Tabitha suddenly stood in between them while aiming her staff at the much taller man, who seemed even more like a giant because of Tabitha's own height. ''Stop now.'' Meanwhile, Tabitha's dragon flew towards us, landed behind her and snarled menacingly. The man seemed to give both her and her dragon a grim smile as he nodded to her, as if in respect from one soldier to another?

''Now if all of the students were either like this young lady here and your professor, or even more extraordinarily like the girl you just mocked, then your assumption of us standing no chance of doing any real damage would easily be true.'' Wait what? Tabitha or professor Colbert I can understand but why me? ''The first reason for this is simply that they were all in a combat ready stance, though not threatening but still able to react to any kind of aggression by countering said aggression near immediately with their own attacks or defences.

Secondly, the professor and Miss d'Orleans have the eyes and bearing of experienced soldiers who have faced death multiple times, gone against unsurmountable odds and still emerged from the fight without being fully broken. Lastly miss Vallière managed to summon thousands of sentient beings… that alone should have warned you about her. Then there are also the facts that she managed to not alone summon those beings from another dimension, but was powerful enough to both give real bodies, fully sentient minds and actual weapons and equipment to thousands of simulations and turn them into real human soldiers willing to fight and die for whatever cause they believe in.

She essentially changed what were not much more then barely fleshed out copies of long dead human beings lead by 4 soldiers hooked up onto a battle simulator into an army of battle-ready soldiers, all armed, geared up and with their own free wills! And did she fall on the ground unconscious from the effort of doing that afterwards? No! She stood her ground and was prepared to stand and fight against us, while looking no worse for the wear at all! Give the young lady some more respect!''

What…? I really did all that? I really gave life to thousands of soldiers? I brought thousands of forgotten soldiers back to life? I mean he did say that they were once dead, but I thought it meant that the device brought them back to some kind of life? And a man I have never met before this, whom I took from his original life no less, is defending me against a woman that I have known for years?

And it is not only him, all the soldiers around us and the other two generals are agreeing with him? I feel my knees getting weak for a moment and nearly fall, but I feel somebody steadying me, and as I turn to face him, I see it is Saito Hiraga, the only one that doesn't seem to be able to speak our language, even though it is obvious he understands everything that has been said. A feeling I haven't felt for months wells up in me.. this joy, this great joy, I just can't not do something with it. I hug him, with the top of my head only reaching high enough to rest on top of his muscled chest and just under his face, but today that doesn't matter to me.

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Saito POV

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My dear Piet, always the charmer of crowds and friend of those people that have been repressed in some way, shape or form. Remind me again why you ended up as a VR tester for Creative Assembly instead of a high-ranking member of the Dutch government? I said while moving to support the obviously overwhelmed girl. Piet hadn't actually lied of course, it was all true, but just the way he brought it would make it so much more credible and moving in the eyes of others rather then just stating the facts would have. Especially considering that with this behaviour they now probably believe that every single one of us is extremely experienced in the art of war with weapons and battlefields that they cannot fully comprehend. Which is again to an extent true, since with the exception of me the entire command staff is made up of people who have either fought in a large amount of battles in real life or in the former simulations cases were literally created to fight battles.

Because I did actually run for the position of Minister of Defence remember? And I wasn't chosen due to a combination of my opponent deciding to hack into my computer and publish my medical file for everyone to read, showing that I had PTSD left over from losing most of my squad to a veritable army of raiders that were pretty much rejects from terrorist groups that really fought for ideals, while on the other hand also being a soldier who had killed enemies during battle, the combination of which made it easy for him to paint me as nothing more than a bloodthirsty war hound to the general public.

Damnit why did I have to bring it up, I know he still has problems with his experiences from both that war and the aftermath. Pierre and Steve have the same problems with their own experiences, however with Pierre most of it is somewhat less recent and Steve hides it behind relatively peppy behaviour. Its probably one of the other reasons why he… wait a second when did Louise start hugging me. Ehm guys did anyone see when Louise decided to start hugging me? The reply to this came unexpectedly from neither Piet or Pierre but instead from one of our guards.

Just a moment ago sir. The lady was looking at both you and the other generals with a look of extreme admiration and thankfulness on her face, then turned most of that to you because you were also physically supporting her and decided to hug you. Thank you for the explanation lieutenant. I then felt some liquid falling on my shirt, and since it isn't raining that probably means she's crying. And yes the soft sobs confirm it. Sigh I have never really been good with women, but she has apparently had an at least somewhat hard life despite being a member of the local Nobility, so I'll give her whatever comfort I can and hug her back. She seems to be a bit surprised at first, but then relaxes further into the hug, keeping her head against my chest while I ruffle her hair and rub along her back.

We'll leave the two of you together for now with the lieutenant assisting as a translator, while we continue the negotiations. I don't think I need to tell you how important she is with how she both summoned us and all but created an entire army. However she is also only a teenager so she is probably very vulnerable and will need both protection as well as support, and you're going to be the one to have to provide that for now.

Don't really have a problem with that. No problem Pierre, you two go and get us some accommodations and some general knowledge of the area. I'll be the one hugging good looking young ladies, the much harder job. Lets just hope they don't take the joke the wrong way, the girl admittedly seems to be somewhat younger then I thought earlier on.

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Colbert POV

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While it is beautiful that these people already care so much about her after just meeting her, and see that spark in her that for some reason eludes all others that have known her for years, it is still a very sad day when a student of our school had to be defended from one of her own classmates by people she had just summoned. Lets get this show on the road then and ensure that everything goes peacefully.

The fact that the whole summoning thing went over without too much trouble is good, but now we still have to handle the logistics of housing, feeding, clothing and rehabilitating thousands of people that have apparently been nothing but imprints of long dead soldiers until extremely recently. How they even achieved creating this I do not for a understand at all, nor do I understand how in Brimir's name Louise managed to give them back their full lives, but I will have to wait until everything has settled down to ask them about that.

''Ok gentlemen, I appreciate the care for one of my students, but I would like to know how we're going to work the logistics of feeding, housing and clothing your armies. We will be able to do so at the academy for a while, but not for too long because of the strain it would cause on our budget.'' I hope they have a plan to solve that, I can't think about anything right now, and luckily Mr. van Vlimmeren had thought of something ''Are there any areas nearby under the control of some kind of raider group? If there is we could clear them out for you then use part of the land to start up some farms and housing units. While not an immediate solution it would lessen most of the long-term problems relatively well.''

Hmm though there are no nearby raider groups, there is still that small orcish village situated relatively close to the academy that was discovered a few days ago, however no forces have been spared for it considering the escalation of the situation in Albion. ''There is a tribe of orcs situated about 5 hours of travel on horseback away from here, we would have cleared the place out earlier but with international tensions rising, most of our current forces are situated at the capital and in border areas to ensure that nobody can take advantage of said tensions to invade us.''

''We could do that relatively easily but we'll need more information then that beforehand. However with that taken care of for now, can we set-up a camp anywhere nearby to rest our troops in?'' Just then Osmond finally decided to step outside, considering his position he had probably been listening in with a spell for a while and started walking towards us, followed shortly afterwards by his secretary. ''The man and woman currently walking towards us are the headmaster and his secretary, they can decide where would be the best position for you to setup camp. Also, as part of the summoning ceremony the familiar and summoner usually bond through a spell almost directly after it happens, here we didn't do that because of the circumstances, but are any of you or your men interested in becoming the main familiar?''

''Any positives to it?'' Mr. de Alain asked. ''Yes, the runes usually give the familiar some kind of power or ability, sometimes making them more intelligent, at other times strengthening their bodies or enhancing their senses, and many more other useful things. However one basic thing is that they always let the summoned being understand the language the summoner is most comfortable with.'' Mr. Hiraga was now visibly interested. He said something to Mr. de Alain who nodded, turned towards me and said ''My friend here is interested, however he wants to know if Ms. de la Vallière also wouldn't have a problem with him being the main familiar?''

At this I finally noticed that while we were talking Ms. Vallière had regained control of her emotions, and while still having red eyes from her emotional outburst earlier, she had a smile on her face, while looking up at Mr. Hiraga with wide eyes filled with hope ''I would love for him to be my familiar'' she looked at the others ''not that I have a problem with any of you, its just, he seems to be way closer to my age then everyone else and this is a very long term thing, so I want somebody that I probably have more in common with, if it isn't a problem to anyone?''

Mr. van Vlimmeren gave her a small smile that I already know isn't something he does often ''Young lady, we completely understand. Outside of him we're all probably the same age as your parents, possibly older, and when we were your age we also wouldn't want to spend days on an end with them by our side berating everything we did.'' His look turned colder and more thoughtful after that ''Though how long term is it really?''

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Louise POV

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''A familiar and their summoner are lifelong companions after they bond with one another, and only separate once one of them dies. Both can do everything and anything they want while bound to each-other, find love with a completely different person and keep their own free will, but they cannot be unbound unless one of the two dies.'' Piet and Pierre showed that they were less enthusiastic now that they knew this, but Saito looked towards them and gave them a nod, making them sigh in resignation, before nodding in return. Though I was a bit worried about giving my familiar my first kiss, the others had to do the same to animals, while I only have to kiss a handsome young man. Bad thoughts, lets get on with this!

Saito then changed our positions and lowered himself a bit so our faces were at equal height, and I began my chant ''By the power of the pentagram of the five Elements I, Louise le blanc de la Vallière, brand thee as my familiar!'' I kissed him on the lips and yes, there the contract is forming and those lips don't taste bad but AAAAHHHH! The pain, the Brimir forsaken pain in my fore-arm! That isn't supposed to happen! ''AAAAHHHHHHH!''

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3rd person POV

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After both Louise and Saito fell on the ground in pain, the other dimensional travellers all felt a slight pain in their fore-arms, though nowhere near the amount that Saito and Louise seemed to be experiencing, which caused them to decide to aim their weapons at the mages, until they stopped for a moment, then lowered their weapons, while rushing towards Saito and Louise, helping the two in standing upright.

Tabitha, Colbert, Kirche and the newly arrived Osmond and Matilda looked very surprised at this sudden change in attitude, and didn't understand what could have caused it. Not only that, but why are both of them in so much pain? Usually familiars only receive something closer to the pain of a relatively light burn wound while the master feels nothing, so what happened here for both of them to have received so much pain that it must have been just shy of forcibly knocking them out from a pain overload?

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Louise POV

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My head… what is happening to me, why am I in so much pain and why can I not see? Ready for battle, they've betrayed us and lured the kid in to be the unknowing method of attack somehow! All light infantry get in range as fast as possible, we need cover fire to fight our way back to our defensive formation! Ready the rockets to provide anti-air cover fire in case they have more of those damned dragons or other flying mounts! I'll hold the dragon off while the rest of you get back to safety after you take down the humans! What is happening, why is Mr Piet shouting orders as if preparing for battle?

Orders understood sir, all units are getting into position and will open fire on targets of opportunity on your command! Wait, lured the kid in, did Saito also get hit by this blinding pain and they thought it was an attack or something? Doesn't matter now, have to stop this before it becomes a war! Stop, please stop now! It wasn't an attack, the bonding ritual is suppose to only give a slight irritation on the arm for the familiar, the ritual must have had negative side-effects somehow because he's a human!

Wait a second, I didn't open my mouth to talk at all and since I can't smell fire or burning flesh means professor Colbert isn't reacting to this anywhere near as aggressively as he would in case he had actually heard it, so Mr Piet didn't say it out loud either. Halt the attack plan for now, this might turn out to be a great misunderstanding instead of a targeted act. Ok, one good thing now.

What in Brimir's name is going on here? Why am I hearing your voice in my head?! Then I heard Pierre's calm, soothing voice, though there was a strict tone to it. Easy there Ms Vallière we already stopped our advance against the other locals and I'll give you some answers if you promise to keep quiet about this for now and answer some of our own questions. Well, I don't really have much of another option if I want the situation to remain peaceful and I really need answers on what is happening.

I accept on the condition that the first thing answered is my question on how we are talking to each-other without actually talking right now? It is both extremely confusing and unnerving.

I felt instead of heard the mental sigh that he managed to somehow express? That is understandable, depending on if your society is knowledgeable about telepathy this can either be very easy or very difficult to understand. What in Brimir's name is this tele-whatty? I can honestly say I have never even heard of that term, so I do not understand at all. What does it mean? While asking this I felt somebody at my side assist me in sitting up and support my back to keep me steady for the moment

Telepathy is a form of non-verbal communication that uses the power of the human mind to create a psychic connection between people to directly transfer information at a speed much faster then what could ever be achieved with verbal communications.

I will admit I'm not the best student at the practical aspect of the magical arts, but I'm sure of one thing: I know more about the theory behind literally all magic in excistance then nearly any other noble currently alive. And I've still never heard of anything even the slightest bit like that.

Telepathy was often imagined to be a supernatural ability that humans could assume once our brains would grow strong enough to handle the stress behind it sometime in the far future. When we left however it was instead an experimental artificial process that allows you to mentally talk with others during combat simulations/operations.

It was being implemented into the simulation we were working on as a final test of that working version, partially to see how the contact between people outside of environments strictly for telepathy testing would work but also partially to see if using the current telepathy technology as a way for an officer to give commands to troops spread out over a large battlefield would work out at all or just not do anything due to a too large number of minds to communicate to.

Interesting. Wait a minute what if?

Wait so is it like the mind link that happens between a familiar and their summoner on the first few nights, giving both small glimpses into the other's life? My vision started to return, causing me to finally be able to see what was happening around me. I suppose you could see it that way Louise, though this is a more permanent and long-term thing then said mind link. I looked to my sides to see who was assisting me in sitting up, and saw Saito was supporting my right side, while now asking ''Do you feel good enough to stand up right now?''

I nodded my consent, not fully trusting my voice yet, after which he nodded back and lifted me back onto my feet. All the while keeping my arm over his shoulder and his arm behind my back holding the left side of my torso to keep me steady while standing. It's a bit embarrassing, but he's both my familiar and one of the few people of my own age I know that is genuinely nice to me. He smiles at me when I look up to see his face, causing me to give a shy smile back before looking down again. The closeness of his body and that smile are also causing some… less welcome feelings.

Wait a second… I just understood what he said. ''Since when did you start speaking Tristanian?'' He looks at me in confusion ''You mean the local language with Tristanian right?'' I nodded. ''I didn't speak it at all, though we call it French, I am not actually good enough at the language to hold a conversation in it with anyone?'' This caused Pierre to look over to us ''Actually, you did talk in what sounded like accented French back there, which is one of the primary languages of the locals as you already knew.''

He continued through the talepath, no telepathy form of communication. Which though fortunate is something we need to look into fast, to see if there aren't any other less fortunate side effects of the familiar bonding. Both the ability of Louise to gain access to our telepathic link and your ability to speak the local language are very nice, but the possibility of you suddenly losing the ability to speak or understand say Japanese or English for example is extremely troubling.

English and Japanese are probably either his personal birth languages or the trade tongue they use for verbal communication between themselves and their troops. It shouldn't affect his ability with either language, but this hasn't been exactly a normal summoning at any point so the possibility for something going disastrously wrong is much higher than that it would be in other circumstances. Normally the bonding only grants whomever is summoned the ability to understand the summoners language, however this is the third or fourth time I think in recorded history that the familiar actually gained the ability to speak the language of the summoner after the bonding.

Though somewhat strange, he was right. This is a good development, it will allow the two of us to converse on many topics, and if he was commanding an army in whatever a 'simulation' is, though with how they talked about it, it will probably be a highly advanced magical device used to train officers by making them relive a past battle, which means that all four of them have some degree of importance in their home countries armies as I already concluded earlier.

This also will give him the opportunity to teach me how to do the same, though I'll have to get him a bed immediately if he is to sleep in my room as my familiar... wait a second he might have to sleep in my room, me in a room alone with a handsome man that has to follow my every command... bad thoughts! He is both older then me and I m engaged, I should not be thinking about this!

''Let us all continue this conversation inside, where it will be somewhat more accommodating to all of us. Your troops may set up camp in the field that you were transported into if they want.'' Pierre nodded to old Osmond and gave one of the riders the order to go back and inform one Steve Churchill of this out loud, while he in reality already informed him through their mind connection.

Steve, in case you weren't listening the headmaster has allowed us to set-up camp in the field our army found ourselves in upon arriving. I'm sending lieutenant Jacques to keep up the farce that we actually need verbal communication to bring over our intentions to each-other over at the very least somewhat longer distances, he'll probably have noticed already we don't always use verbal communication over short distances with how little we had to talk to make our intentions known to each-other.

His reply came shortly afterwards Sure thing my friend, continue on with the negotiations, I'll organise our forces into setting up camp. Well, a new chapter of my life awaits, and for once I have the support of many behind me. I am Louise de la Vallière, and I will succeed, no matter what this society wants to do to me! I will rise and be the protector of the Tristanian crown for as long as I live and I will die before even a hair on Henrietta's head is harmed, that is my oath!

Authors Note: Anyways, I hope you people enjoy reading the story, please give reviews about what is good and what can be done in a better way. At first I wanted to both include the battle against the orcs and the unit codex of all groups in this, but then I realised just how many words I already had at that point (15k words) and decided I would like to keep it below 25k words if possible, and so finished it off there and added whatever parts of the British and special units codex's that weren't done yet. Which turned out to be a good move because that alone has over 10k words meaning that if I had added them all I would end up with roughly 50k words for this chapter alone.

After the end of this AN there will the a codex of the British and special units shown in this chapter, do keep in mind though that while the units that have crossed over from Empire Total War keep all their researched abilities and equipment, they have to be researched once again to arm up soldiers recruited from the local population in Tristain with them once we reach that part of the story. Though here it's much less of a problem then in my other story because I actually have a very large amount of information from the Total War units to go off on how strong they are in canon, though I will need to change some things like recruitment time a bit since I'm changing the half a year periods seen as turns in Empire Total War into having a month be a turn.

I do this since it is both realistic for militia level units to be recruited in a month and since you now have a group that already knows a lot about both the technologies, social systems etc. that can be researched, it won't take anywhere near as long to research those things as it would in real life. The amount of vehicles, weapons, etcetera that have been transported into the FoZ world over time will also add to much faster development of semi-modern gear (think early machine guns and rifled muskets at first, then 19th century machine guns, then 19th century machine guns, then a very select amount of extremely primitive combustion engine reliant vehicles and early factories, andsoforth).

Thirdly for anyone who has a problem with me writing Louise as having a small crush on Saito from the start even if she is unwilling to truly acknowledge it, back off. She's a heavily abused teenager, both physically and emotionally, that has no friends outside of her sister and the princess of a country, never got much recognition from her own mother (though not for the reasons she thinks it to be) that also happens to live in a society that looks down on her for not performing magic to their exact standards. Then she suddenly summons an army consistent of thousands of soldiers.

And unlike in our current time or even Europe during the renaissance which is the area roughly equal to their time, the population of Halkeginia is scarely low. Like the total population of the entire continent put together (including all sentient non-human species) is about as much as the population of the Benelux (roughly 29 million) today, while Tristain alone posses as much ground as the entire Benelux but only roughly 1 million in population count. And that is very much at most, considering the other countries are depicted as all having larger armies, navies, larger populations, larger everything, then Tristain does, which is nearly impossible if one thinks about the fact that their population is heavily militarized, which means that they cannot have more than 4% of the continents population as one of those countries is nation that depends solely on combat priests to keep up its military strength while being ruled by a theology. The reason why that at most 4% then makes for only a million inhabitants is simple, like I stated earlier the entire population of Halkeginia is somewhere between 28 and 30 million.

And while theologies might be good governments for a lot of things, one thing they usually aren't good at is creating a good stable economy. Especially a theology based government existing out of people born into those positions. This means that Tristain's entire national professional army will be only about 6 to 8 thousand troops, with another 10 to 12 thousand professional soldiers sent by nobles during wartimes to serve in the national army, and lastly some 25000 levees and militia's available during wartime only.

This gives them a grand total of 45000 troops that can be used maximum, if they call upon close to everyone that can be called upon without endangering the economy and still being able to leave behind a minimum number of troops to defend the place. What I mean to tell with this is just to point out how small both their armies and populations are in comparison to modern times.

As for people saying that there have been countries in the past that conscripted a much larger part of their nation into the military, yes it happened, but the only ways to sustain an army of more than a twentieth of your population for long periods of time in a pre-industrial society is either A: slavery of some kind, whether this be slave soldiers or slaves performing all labour heavy work back home, B: have a near constant campaign of raiding and active conquest then put the captured enemies to work.

C: Have allies/ tributary states that supply and support you in non-military matters (such as food, raw ores, etcetera) in exchange for you defending their territory against enemies or lastly D: have a country so small that that the armies can be marched from any one side of it to the other within a few days at most, causing most of them to still be able to do their daily jobs with relative ease even when drafted.

Since Tristain doesn't have either of the last two, its nobles being too greedy to ever put their slaves, I mean commoner subjects, to work for the crown without taking most of the profits out of it themselves causing the first one not to be viable and it only being surrounded by stronger and larger nations, the maximum number is literally the extreme maximum only available during wartimes while leaving only an extremely small barely armed militia behind to guard the country if it is used offensively.

Then suddenly Louise, whom is as I stated earlier an emotionally and physically abused teenager, summons in an army of at least 3000 well trained and well-armed soldiers, they tell her about how she gave most of them a new chance at life, then defend her from one of her classmates, give her more emotional support then she has had from anyone except for two others for all of her life and finally one of the generals in command of this army decides to agree to becoming her familiar.

All of these men are physically in top shape, enjoy a level of hygiene nobody she knows does and finally have an unknown but seemingly intriguing backstory. Heck I'm a straight male and even I would have probably had a crush because of something like that if it happened to me at that age. Unless she is a lesbian or deeply in love with somebody else, it is completely unrealistic for her to not develop a crush for one of them.

Also secondly do keep in mind that the abilities of Special Units such as Louise, Saito, Piet, Pierre, etc. will grow and thus when this story is 100k words underway Louise might be roughly 5 times as dangerous as she is now. Possibly even something more extreme than that. And no with 5 times more dangerous I don't mean 5 times higher stats, just for instance her getting actually decent aim, better defensive gear and somewhat higher physical capabilities so she can defend herself for long enough in close quarters for other support to arrive.

Thirdly, many non-canon traits/abilities will show up, some for plot reasons, some to make the units more realistic and useful, some to go over the magical nature of the Familiar of Zero world and some to describe how past experiences shaped this person or group.) Lastly, there is the thing of me having an unknown being call 'Brimir' creator. It is more along the line of how the Geth refer to the Quarians as 'creators' in Mass Effect, mixed with adoration for someone that was the parental figure for him/her/itself. Less in the idea that it considers Brimir the creator of all sentient life. I'll say beforehand, he's not the creator of all life or something like that in this story.

Coalition forces under the command of Louise de la Vallière (be warned this is going to be very, very long. And with very long I mean as in about as long as everything else in the chapter put together, so it is recommended if you like being surprised and don't care much for the exact details of everything, to just skip this part.)

Special Units:

Louise de la Vallière

Category: Leader
Class: Faction leader (She has both overall command of her factions military, but is also the political leader/head of state. Whenever entering a battlefield will have supreme command of all her factions troops in the area. However, said faction is a protectorate of the Tristanian crown)
Men: 1
Firepower: 2 to 500 (Depending on what spell is being used, how much power is put into it, at what range it hits the opponent and if she has her wand or not. Her usual spell of choice, the 'fireball' type explosion spell, does 10 to 120 damage depending as said before on the power put into it)
Range: 50 to 350 (depending both on what spell is currently being used and if she has her wand or not, since both can either shorten or enlarge the range. A combination of using the wand and her fire-ball spell at full power together has the 350 range.)
Accuracy: 15 without wand, 20 with wand
Munition: 1 to 250 (depending both on how much power is put into the spell, at what range the attack will hit and if she has her wand or not, with no wand the maximum damage in the strongest spell (500) uses up all available magic, while with a wand she can fire 2 of those, but nothing stronger because that is the maximum amount of power the wand can channel at once.) (2 to 500 if the Void is with me activates regularly, 4 to 1000 if The Void is with me activates supercharged)
Melee attack: 2
Charge bonus: 2
Defence: 2
Morale: 8 (16 with Noble's Duty activate, 24 with For the Monarch activate. 24 morale means literally completely impossible to rout no matter what happens, so combining them wouldn't add anything.)

The third child of the main branch of the De La Valliere family, with her mother originally having said name and her father (the bastard child of the grandfather of the current Princess, who despite his heritage was seen as a brother by the last king and as such his children are in line for the throne if Henrietta abdicates or cannot fulfil her royal duties for whatever reason) taking the name after marrying Karin de la Vallière. Louise is currently 4 foot 8 inches foot (145 centimetres) tall and 17 years old.

She is often seen as a problem due to people not understanding how her magic works, which made them think she had no ability to shape magic and as such was seen as a shame of a mage by her eldest sister and most of her 'peers' at school. Her mother, unknown to her, while not liking the fact that her daughter couldn't do normal magic, did understand the implications of the ability to create different calibre explosions with every spell cast, and then being able to cast those explosions many more times then her peers could cast their own spells.

She didn't interfere in the problems between sisters, thinking in her 'rule of steel' line of thought that the conflict would only make Louise stronger as long as it didn't kill her. This has left the girl very inept socially, which makes it even harder to gain friends, but has also both created a hidden steel right under the surface of her personality and made her become unquestionably loyal to those few that have managed to earn said loyalty, including her older sister Cattelaya and the current Princess of Tristain Henrietta.

She will do anything for them, no matter the cost to her personally, consequences be damned as long as the job will get done and the person in question is saved. When during the ritual she summoned a veritable army of thousands and was told shortly afterwards that it was her magic that gave most of them a chance at new life, she was both shocked but also extremely elated, she could now prove to the world that she was worth much more then a simple trophy wife with nobody being able to disprove that it was she that had summoned entire armies.

Abilities

Void magic
Explosion magic (this person has a specialty for explosion magic, making them much more attuned and capable at this then most)

The Void is with me (will activate as a side effect when either Noble's duty or For the Monarch activates, enlarges her magical reserves by 2 times when either one is active, by four times if both are active at the same time. Will not change firepower maximum because of the fact that the regular maximum firepower is also the largest amount that can be channelled through both Louise's body and her wand without damaging either currently. Will change in the future once both her body gets stronger and/or the wand gets replaced with a better version.)

Mark of the summoner (Allows the summoner to use the same type of mental communication a faction leader has with their subjects in a Total War series game to give orders to everyone that swears loyalty to her. The disadvantage of this link is that only words can be sent, and that unlike in the Total War series long distances can decrease the strength and clarity of the link. Also allows to view city management as it is shown in Empire: Total War.)

Technological abilities

Enchanted armour (Gives +4 to defence and a higher level of heat resistance. Currently being held onto by her mother and will be given to her after she successfully commands forces in a battle for the first time)

Wand-sword (Can both function as a close combat weapon in which function it will give her +3 melee attack and +2 charge bonus, can also handle not only 50% more magical power being pushed through it at once but also strengthens the magic being pushed through by 20%, enabling Louise to use more of her full power at once if necessary and heavily strengthening the effects of said full power. Being held onto by her mother currently and will be given to her after she successfully commands forces in a battle for the first time.)

Traits

Theoretical knowledge of magic (due to hours of studying for theoretical knowledge of magic and the potential applications of many spells to a much higher degree then a regular mage, this person can now more easily devise tactics both with and against groups of mages. +1 command when fighting against an army mostly consistent of mages, +1 command when leading an army mostly consistent of mages into battle)

For the Monarch (This trait is the result of her close relationship with the current crown princess. When anything is seen by her as being even remotely a threat to Tristains royal family she will be either victorious or die in battle. When activated triples her base morale, gives her +1 command ability and her sheer determination will inspire her troops, +1 morale to all units fighting by her side on the battlefield.)

Noble's duty (This ability started to exist out of the great dedication towards duty this person has, which makes them take the duty all members of Nobility have in their eyes to defend the commoners extremely seriously, especially when said rights are being infringed upon by other nobles. When activated doubles this persons/units base morale and gives +1 morale to armies with similar views and/or mostly non-mage troops when the person with this trait is the commander of the armed forces)
My people are my family (This leaders cares greatly for his or her subordinates, which those subordinates know and admire their leader for. +2 love from the common populace, +1 love from the nobility/high class, +1 morale in battle for any friendly forces)

Multilingual (This person has the ability to speak more than 3 languages, both enabling easier diplomacy and giving him more prestige in the eyes of nearly every member of the population, though mainly so for the nobility. +5% chance of convincing people your argument is correct, +2 love from the nobility, +1 love from the lower classes, +5 diplomatic prestige)

Requirements to recruit:

Special units are referring to specific people, the 'hero' units and leaders of their factions, which means that it is impossible to actually recruit most of them outside of personally convincing them to join your side over whatever group they are siding with now.

General Saito Hiraga

Category: Leader
Class: General
Men: 1
Range: - (will change in the future, but currently doesn't have a ranged weapon)
Accuracy: - (50 normally on average, 70 with runes on average, with will of steel and runes both together 90)
Reloading skill: - (normally 30, with runes 50, Gandalfrs and runes both 70)
Melee attack: 16 (32 when runes are activated, 48 Gandalfrs steel conviction and runes both)
Charge bonus: 15 (30 when runes are activated, 45 Gandalfrs steel conviction and runes both)
Defence: 14
Morale: 16 (24 when Gandalfrs steel conviction activates)
Recruitment cost: -
Upkeep cost: £2 (spent on food and equipment upkeep only)
Command ability: Between 9 and 14 command capability depending on the situation
Army bonus morale: +7 morale

Saito Hiraga is a 5 foot 8 inches (173 centimetres) tall 22 year old man of Japanese origin. He was hired by Creative Assembly to work on their new VR project, which started on the 15th of October 2018 and has become good friends with his direct superior in this project and the three co-workers that he spends most of the day with during testing. Unknown to Saito, the reason behind selecting him was not done on any physical abilities or disabilities he may have had, but a combination of a cultural and educational factors.

Saito Hiraga was born in a family that has a long history of martial service in the Japanese military, with his father, uncles, aunts, both grandfathers and one of his great grand-parents all having served as part of the Japanese military. While Saito is part of the JDF reserve forces and as such can be called into service in case Japan will ever get attacked, his main focus was on his studies in history, where he was specialised in 18th century Europe and the Middle East. His fascination with this specific time period had started after he played Empire Total War in 2012, and fell in love with it. Because of this, when Creative Assembly attempted to recruit him for their VR project for the game Empire Total War 1 in September 2018, he jumped on it.

Due to a combination of high intellect and his large knowledge base on this time period, he had gone through a faster then regular program in his studies, which caused him to be a history professor at age 21. This has had him be not only a test-subject for the project, but also one of the historians working on ensuring the outfits, buildings and flags that can be seen on the battlefield and campaign map in VR mode fit with the actual historical nations they are supposed to represent. However after he had worked on the project for only slightly more then two weeks, he and 3 of his co-workers were teleported out of their VR chambers by way of a portal summoned by a young mage from another world.

However due to a combination of outside interference and the way that the VR machines worked, instead of just the 4 of them being transported to Halkeginia in their jumpsuits, they instead appeared with the clothing, gear and armies that they would have had in the VR session, which meant they were now commanding thousands of men armed and equipped with 18th century military gear in what seemed to be a medieval fantasy world.

Abilities

Can rally routing troops

Inspires nearby units

Good stamina

Gandalfr runes (allow for the use of any weapon at least somewhat competently no matter how little you knew about it beforehand while also giving increased physical strength, usually double of what was originally there. Also enables faster reloading and better aim with all ranged weapons and a high level of competence in driving vehicles built for the purpose of war. Also allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Modern infantry training (Gives even higher physical conditioning and allows for both better ranged ability with fire-arms as well as better close quarter abilities both unarmed, with bladed weapons and with rifles. +5 to melee attack, +10 accuracy with fire-arms)

Resistant to morale shocks

Gandalfrs steel conviction (When fighting for something or someone he fiercely believes in on the battlefield, it strengthens his morale to the point routing him is impossible, no matter what happens. Also, even when without a weapon of any kind the runes will activate, if he has a weapon they will double the usual bonus.)

Modern military training (Gives superior physical conditioning and a 50% higher capability with modern weapons/vehicles. Also allows to create improvised grenades and other explosives with greater ease. Also heightens ability with any and all fire-arms by +5 accuracy.)

Technological abilities

Combat medic (Not in use yet due to 'modern medical supplies' not having been researched yet)

Traits

Born to fight (+2 command when fighting on land)

Great general (+3 to command in battle)

Cool under fire (+1 to morale)

Courageous leader (+3 to morale)

Darling of the gutter press (+2 to morale)

Charismatic (+25% of chance of convincing people your argument is correct, -5% costs on supplies bought in bulk, +25% higher recruitment rate of troops for the
faction this person is part of, +10% higher chance of opposing units surrendering)

Historian (+10% chance to see pattern in actions when these are there, also knows a lot about 17th and 18th century strategies, logistics, tactics and production methods, +1 command against enemies using tactics that were recorded extensively in history, +2 command when fighting in command of such an army.)

Horsemanship (Is good enough at riding a horse that it doesn't diminish his combat capabilities while riding one)

Modern military officer's training (+2 command when on the defensive against a combined land/air assault due to extensive knowledge about how to quickly and effectively setup a trench based defensive system and how to make improvised Anti-Aircraft weaponry. +1 command when using a combined arms assault while on the offensive. Lastly gives +1 command when in charge of an infantry force with fire-arms and artillery support, no matter how primitive or advanced said weapons and artillery are.)

Mentioned in dispatches (+1 morale, +1 to command when leading infantry units)

Multilingual (This person has the ability to speak more then 3 languages, both enabling easier diplomacy and giving him more prestige in the eyes of nearly every member of the population, though mainly so for the nobility. +5% chance of convincing people your argument is correct, +2 love from the nobility, +1 love from the lower classes, +5 diplomatic prestige)

Requirements to recruit

Special units are referring to specific people, the 'hero' units and leaders of their factions, which means that it is impossible to actually recruit them outside of personally convincing them to join your side over whatever group they are siding with now.

General Piet van Vlimmeren

Category: Leader
Class: General
Men: 1
Range: 70
Accuracy: 70 (60 when on horseback, 80 when on foot with runes active, 70 when on horseback with runes active)
Reloading skill: 60 (30 when on horseback, 70 with runes active on foot, 40 on horseback with runes active)
Ammunition: 15
Melee attack: 24 (36 with runes are active on horseback, 30 when on foot without runes active, 45 when on foot with runes active)
Charge bonus: 15 (25 on horseback, 23 when runes are active on foot, 37.5 on horseback with runes active)
Defence: 20
Morale: 16 (24 when steel convictions becomes active)
Recruitment cost: -
Upkeep cost: £4 (spent on food, equipment and ammunition only)
Command ability: between 10 and 17 command capability depending on the situation
Army bonus morale: between +8 and +16 morale depending on the situation.

Piet van Vlimmeren is a 190 cm tall 37 year old veteran soldier from the Netherlands, who fought in a multitude of battles and was during his time of active service the second most capable close quarters combatant in the Royal Netherlands Military. He started military service at age 22 after finishing officers school at the top of his class, and fought in multiple battles during 3 tours in different warzones, before leaving active service at the age of 30 after seeing his brother die trying to save several civilians, with said civilians still dying shortly afterwards despite all effort being put into having them survive because of an enemy RPG rocket hitting the building they were hiding in.

After returning home, he decided to instead join the reserve forces, where he was immediately granted back the rank he had when he left the active military, namely that of captain. After seeing the extremely poor state the reserve forces were in and how the public treated returning military veterans, he decided to go into politics. Joining a political faction in his home-town, he quickly worked his way up the political ladder through both charisma and his popularity with the local public for being a straight-forward person and decorated military veteran.

Since the town was close to a military facility, many of the voters worked for/with the military or profited from the fact that they were stationed there in some way or another, causing the people to be more interested in the state of the military, their treatment by the general public and the quality of their equipment.
From here after winning local elections by a large margin and being part of the town council, he joined national politics at age 35.

While less effective on a nationwide level, he still had gained enough public support that he was standing to gain 5 of the 150 seats in the 'Tweede Kamer' (second chamber, the name of one of the Dutch chambers of parliament) which would be just enough to make the victory of a coalition of 2 other parties a certainty, causing him to bargain with them, the results of which would see him supporting them in their ideas for the most part, with him becoming Minister Of Defence and their support of his plans to spend more money to ensure all overdue maintenance on military equipment would be performed and new equipment bought where the old needed to be replaced badly.

After another political party that was also in negotiations with the coalition learned of this, they feared that their own party would not be allowed into the coalition because of them wanting much larger changes to the coalitions plans since with the seats of the new military oriented party they would be useless. To counter this danger to their position they started a slander campaign, including leaking all Piet's medical files to the public while making speeches of him being a ''Bloodlustige man die het liefst ons land in oorlog zou brengen om het kleinste akkefietje.'' (''Man filled with bloodlust, who would drag our country into a war over the slightest diplomatic problem.'').

This in combination of fear for how his PTSD would affect his abilities as part of the countries leadership caused public support to crumble almost completely, both in national and local elections. At the actual elections he eventually didn't even get enough votes to get 1 seat in the new parliament, sending him into a depression and ruining his chances at the local elections a few months later. The rival that started the whole thing also blackmailed the new minister of defence into revoking Piet's membership of the reserve forces for alleged mental instability, throwing him further into his depression.

With no family left and not wanting to ruin his body with drink, he dove into playing video games as his way of escaping his problems, eventually coming to enjoy strategy games, in specific those of the Total War series. While in this depression he was approached by Creative Assembly to work for them as a member of the team that would enact the movements for the troops in their new VR version of the original Empire Total War game, which he readily accepted to just have something productive to do on a daily basis.

After enjoying working for them for more then a year, he also took them up on the offer to join the testing teams for the VR gameplay, bringing him in as a military expert. Though after he had worked on the project for only slightly more than two weeks, he and 3 of his co-workers were teleported out of their VR chambers by way of a portal created by a young mage from another world.

However due to a combination of outside interference and the way that the VR machines worked, instead of just the 4 of them being transported to Halkeginia in their jumpsuits, they instead appeared with the clothing, gear and armies that they would have had in the VR session, which meant they were now commanding thousands of men armed and equipped with 18th century military gear in what seemed to be a medieval fantasy world.

Abilities

Resistant to morale shocks

Can rally routing troops

Inspires nearby units

Modern military training (Gives superior physical conditioning and a 50% higher capability in operating modern weapons/vehicles. Also allows to create improvised grenades and other explosives with greater ease. Also heightens ability with any and all fire-arms by +5 accuracy.)

Modern infantry training (Gives even higher physical conditioning and allows for both better ranged ability with fire-arms as well as better close quarter abilities both unarmed, with bladed weapons and with rifles. +5 to melee attack, +10 accuracy with fire-arms)

Steel conviction (When fighting for something or someone he fiercely believes in on the battlefield, it strengthens his morale to the point routing him is impossible, no matter what happens.)

Very good stamina

Grappling hooks

Slightly degraded Gandalfr runes (These runes give half the bonuses that similar full runes would give to a person, in this case a 50% increase of physical abilities, half of the increase in ranged abilities but still give a high level of competence with controlling any vehicle meant for war. Also, like the original version it allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Technological abilities

Fire and advance
Fire by rank
Square formation
Platoon firing
Socket bayonet

Traits

Fought on the line (As this man was once a simple soldier fighting on the front line as well, his speeches make a much deeper impression on the men and inspire them more then the same speeches would from most other officers, especially those about the defence of their homeland against aggressor's. +1 morale in offensive battles, +2 morale in defensive battles, +1 to command in all situations.)

Modern military officer's training (+2 command when on the defensive against a combined land/air assault due to extensive knowledge about how to quickly and effectively setup a trench based defensive system and how to make improvised Anti-Aircraft weaponry. +1 command when using a combined arms assault while on the offensive. Lastly gives +1 command when in charge of an infantry force with fire-arms and artillery support, no matter how primitive or advanced said weapons and artillery are.)

War, war never changes (Due to a large amount of experience in warfare while on the frontlines himself, this man knows just how much it can affect the people fighting in it and will do anything in his power to assist his men into surviving the physical wounds gained and overcoming the psychological scars it creates. Both his own men and his allies know this and are proud to stand by this man's side all the more because of it. +1 morale to any and all friendly forces, +20% chance of having wounded soldiers survive the fighting)

Born to fight (+2 command when fighting on land)

Hero of the downtrodden (He will always fight for the rights of those that have very little or none, no matter the cost to him personally or what positions he will reach in life. This will oft cause him to class with the less scrupulous members of the Nobility. Gives +4 love from the working class/commoners, -2 love from the higher class/ nobility)

PTSD (Due to long-term experience with wars and the death of many friends, comrades and innocents in said wars, this person has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This causes him to be quick to anger not only when people have no respect towards the causes he and his comrades fought, bled and died for, but also when they look down on those that he feels have at some point gone through what he went through in some way shape or form. +4 love from others that have experience with war, -1 love from those not experienced with conflict, +25% chance of acting impulsively when people look down on him or any other soldier that fights for a cause he can respect.)

Courageous leader (+3 morale)

My enemy is the media (-1 morale due to past and present problems with the press)

Great general (+3 to command in battle)

Infantry commander (+1 command and +2 morale when leading an army mainly consisting of infantry forces into battle)

Shield of the innocent (After seeing civilians die in battle and being helpless to stop the slaughter, this man has resolved to never again be helpless in such a situation and will also inspire those under his command to follow that same ideal. Will activate when the opponent actively threatens the lives of innocent civilians. Gives +1 command, +6 morale for all friendly forces, +2 melee attack and +4 charge bonus for the entire army when active.)

Drillmaster (+2 to Command when leading Infantry Units, +5% to infantry unit's campaign movement range)

Good defender (+1 to command when defending on land)

Multilingual (This person has the ability to speak more than 3 languages, both enabling easier diplomacy and giving him more prestige in the eyes of nearly every member of the population, though mainly so for the nobility. +5% chance of convincing people your argument is correct, +2 love from the nobility, +1 love from the lower classes, +5 diplomatic prestige)

Hero of the Army (+4 to Morale in all Battles)

Mentioned in dispatches (+1 to morale in all battles, +1 to command when leading infantry units)

Requirements to recruit

Special units are referring to specific people, the 'hero' units and leaders of their factions, which means that it is impossible to actually recruit them outside of personally convincing them to join your side over whatever group they are siding with now.

General Pierre D'Alain

Category: Leader
Class: General
Men: 1
Range: - (will change in the future, but currently doesn't have a ranged weapon)
Accuracy: - (Normally 50 on average, with runes active 60 on average depending somewhat on the weapon)
Reloading skill: - (Normally 30 on average, with runes active 40. How much higher or lower it will be depends near completely on the weapon used.)
Melee attack: 18 (With runes active 27)
Charge bonus: 20 (With runes active 30)
Defence: 18
Morale: 16 (24 when steel convictions activates)
Command ability: 7 to 12 command general depending on the circumstances
Army bonus morale: +6 to +8 morale

Pierre D'Alain is a 190 cm tall 42 year old former member of the French Grand Armée who reached the rank of sergeant, however he left the army shortly after his husband was killed in the line of duty. During his service he was a combat engineer and mechanic, which basically meant he built bridges, camps, roads, and everything else expected of a member of the engineer corps, but at the same time he had also enjoyed the training of a combat mechanic, meaning he could make quick repairs to vehicles, weapons and communication devices. This combination has assisted him well after he left the military at age 34, and after a short re-education started working as a mechanic for a car rental service in the outskirts of Paris.

Life was good for him, though he never fully got over the loss of his love, he did find peace in the act of caring for the children of his sister, with whom he kept a good bond. This changed however at age 41, when his sister, her husband and their two children died in a car accident. Having lost everything he cared about threw him into a heavy depression, which got even worse when he lost his job not a month later after a change of management happened at the company he worked for, where it was decided to fire him and the other ex-military personnel employed there for them being too 'militant' for the new owners views, throwing dozens of men and women alike out of their jobs all over the country.

While in this depression, Creative Assembly reached out to him and gave him the option of becoming one of the field-testers for their VR technology, which he rapidly agreed to after reading the contract. He, unlike nearly all other members of the project, worked at the Rome Total War section first, and was placed over to the Empire Total War section after they finished the Rome Total War: VR Edition development. Both the current and previous project have done much to drag him out of his depressed state, though he is still often cold and also very slow to trust. However after he had worked on the current project for only slightly more than two weeks, he and 3 of his co-workers were teleported out of their VR chambers by way of a portal created by a young mage from another world.

Strangely enough due to a combination of outside interference and the way that the VR machines worked, instead of just the 4 of them being transported to Halkeginia in their jumpsuits, they instead appeared with the clothing, gear and armies that they would have had in the VR session, which meant they were now commanding thousands of men armed and equipped with 18th century military gear in what seemed to be a medieval fantasy world.

Abilities

Resistant to morale shocks

Can rally routing troops

Inspires nearby units

Modern military training (Gives superior physical conditioning and a 50% higher capability with modern weapons/vehicles. Also allows to create improvised grenades and other explosives with greater ease. Also heightens ability with any and all fire-arms by +5 accuracy.)

Steel conviction (When fighting for something or someone he fiercely believes in on the battlefield, it strengthens his morale to the point routing him is impossible, no matter what happens.)

Good stamina

Grappling hooks

Slightly degraded Gandalfr runes (These runes give half the bonuses that similar full runes would give to a person, in this case a 50% increase of physical abilities, half of the increase in ranged abilities but still give a high level of competence with controlling any vehicle meant for war. Also, like the original version it allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Mechanic (Can do field repairs on vehicles due to both military training and previous experience.)

Technological abilities

Train the mechanics (Allows this person to train vehicle mechanics, currently not available due to there first needing to be vehicles to train them with)

Better machinery (25% increase of efficiency in machinery designed by him, with factory building speed also rising by 20%. Will only become active once installed as a province commander or researcher.)

Traits

PTSD (Due to long-term experience with wars and the death of many friends, comrades and innocents in said wars, this person has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This causes him to be quick to anger not only when people have no respect towards the causes he and his comrades fought, bled and died for, but also when they look down on those that he feels have at some point gone through what he went through in some way shape or form. +4 love from others that have experience with war, -1 love from those not experienced with conflict, +25% chance of acting impulsively when people look down on him or any other soldier that fights for a cause he can respect.)

Mentioned in dispatches (+1 morale)

War, war never changes (Due to a large amount of experience in warfare while on the frontlines himself, this man knows just how much it can affect the people fighting in it and will do anything in his power to assist his men into surviving the physical wounds gained and overcoming the psychological scars it creates. Both his own men and his allies know this and are proud to stand by this man's side all the more because of it. +1 morale to any and all friendly forces, +20% chance of having wounded soldiers survive the fighting)

Courageous general (+3 morale)

Born cavalryman (+2 command when leading cavalry units)

Aggressive general (+2 command when attacking)

Fought on the line (As this man was once a simple soldier fighting on the front line as well, his speeches make a much deeper impression on the men and inspire them more than the same speeches would from most other officers, especially those about the defence of their homeland against aggressor's. +1 morale in offensive battles, +2 morale in defensive battles.)

Superior General (+2 to Command in Land Battles)

Support crew (Due to being part of such a unit himself in the past, he knows how important support units are during combat and as such manages to get the best of the best for this job. +1 morale, +25% chance of being able to repair mechanised forces after a battle, wounded soldiers have a +10% higher chance of surviving the battle, +5% upkeep costs for all units)

Machines of war (Due to long term experience with modern vehicles, this man will be able to easily reverse engineer any vehicle baring even the slightest resemblance to modern vessels of war. This means that as long as one still semi-working example of a vehicle can be found, he can reverse engineer a lot of its technologies allowing them to build their own, if slightly inferior, versions of it.)

Hero of the downtrodden (He will always fight for the rights of those that have very little or none, no matter the cost to him personally or what positions he will reach in life. This will oft cause him to class with the less scrupulous members of the Nobility. Gives +4 love from the working class/commoners, -2 love from the higher class/ nobility)

Cunning General (+1 to Command during Ambushes)

Born to Fight (2 to Command when fighting on land)

Multilingual (This person has the ability to speak more than 3 languages, both enabling easier diplomacy and giving him more prestige in the eyes of nearly every member of the population, though mainly so for the nobility. +5% chance of convincing people your argument is correct, +2 love from the nobility, +1 love from the lower classes, +5 diplomatic prestige)

General Steve Churchill

Category: Leader
Class: General
Men: 1
Range: 70
Accuracy: 60 (50 when on horseback, 70 when on foot with runes active, 60 when on horseback with runes active, 65 when on a ship without the runes active, 75 when on a ship with runes active)
Reloading skill: 60 (30 when on horseback, 70 with runes active on foot, 40 on horseback with runes active, 65 when on a ship without runes active, 75 when on a ship with runes active)
Ammunition: 15
Melee attack: 18 (20 when on horseback without runes active, 30 when on horseback with runes active, 27 when on foot with runes active, 23 when on a ship without runes active, 34.5 when on a ship with runes active.)
Charge bonus: 15 (22 on horseback, 23 when runes are active on foot, 33 on horseback with runes active, 20 when on a ship without runes active, 30 when on a ship with runes active)
Defence: 16 (21 when on a ship)
Morale: 16 (24 when steel convictions becomes active)
Recruitment cost: -
Upkeep cost: £4 (spent on food, equipment and ammunition only)
Command ability: As general between 6 and 8 command capability, as an admiral between 13 and 26 command stars both depending on the circumstances.
Army bonus morale: when on land it is between +4 and +6 morale, when at sea it is +5 morale

General Steve Churchill, formerly captain, is a 190 cm tall 35 year old war veteran that served in Her Majesties Royal Navy for 16 years, before being forced out of service because the frigate HRMS under his command got into a battle with a ship belonging to the Syrian military after they caught said ship attacking what they thought to be a cargo vessel. It had turned out to be a cargo vessel yes, but one that was supplying humanitarian supplies to Syrian rebels and as such Steve's actions were against the non-interference public opinion regarding this civiol war back home. This forced high-command's hands in throwing him out of the Navy after large scale riots and protest marches demanding this action.

He wasn't abandoned by the government completely though, with him silently being put in the naval reserve, given all the bonuses a decorated war veteran was supposed to get and more. It still came as a hit, however unknown to him, what was to come still was much worse. When he arrived back home it was to find his daughter Elisabeth badly injured and softly crying in her room and even though he raced her to the hospital immediately, she died from her injuries little more then a few hours afterwards. During these hours he was constantly by her side, talking to her, crying for her and feeling completely and utterly helpless, not being able to do a single thing for the person he cared about the most.

He would find out that she had been injured this badly by her mother, who had not only become abusive during his time away, but had also been cheating on him with another man. When the young girl found out about that last fact on the very day her father was supposed to return home, her mother became enraged and tried to scare her into not telling Steve. When Elisabeth didn't agree to this fast enough to the woman's opinion, the attempt at scaring turned into hitting the girl while enraged with any object she could find, after which Elisabeth was locked into her room by her mother while the woman herself tried to escape the country.

Upon learning this Steve wanted to go after her the first moment he could, only to learn that she hadn't gone far: she had crashed into a building with her car and had died upon impact. His life now completely in tatters, with near everyone he cared for dead, out of a job he could have lost himself in to suppress the pain and no family or friends to turn to, he sunk into a very deep depression. Sometime later and after a failed suicide attempt, he was contacted by Creative Assembly to work on the preparations for a VR project of theirs, which he agreed to join just to try to lose himself in something.

From that day on while it worked wonders for him to have some friends he could trust once again, he is still filled with pain over all that had happened to him in his life, though he tries to cover it up by acting as if nothing is wrong and being peppy in public. After the first project was finished a few months later, they asked if he wanted to sign up for the VR project itself, which he agreed to, however after he had worked on that project for only slightly more than two weeks, he and 3 of his co-workers were teleported out of their VR chambers by way of a portal created by a young mage from another world.

Strangely enough due to a combination of outside interference and the way that the VR machines worked, instead of just the 4 of them being transported to Halkeginia in their jumpsuits, they instead appeared with the clothing, gear and armies that they would have had in the VR session, which meant they were now commanding thousands of men armed and equipped with 18th century military gear in what seemed to be a medieval fantasy world.

Abilities

Resistant to morale shocks

Can rally routing troops

Inspires nearby units

Modern military training (Gives superior physical conditioning and a 50% higher capability with modern weapons/vehicles. Also allows to create improvised grenades and other explosives with greater ease. Also heightens ability with any and all fire-arms by +5 accuracy.)

At home at sea (A +5 to any and all physical abilities once on a ship sailing on the sea.)

Modern naval training (+50% capability in operating any naval vessel, +125% capability in operating any modern naval vessel, +150% capability in operating a modern British naval vessel.)

Steel conviction (When fighting for something or someone he fiercely believes in on the battlefield, it strengthens his morale to the point routing him is impossible, no matter what happens.)

Good stamina

Grappling hooks

Slightly degraded Gandalfr runes (These runes give half the bonuses that similar full runes would give to a person, in this case a 50% increase of physical abilities, half of the increase in ranged abilities but still give a high level of competence with controlling any vehicle meant for war. Also, like the original version it allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Technological abilities

Fire and advance

Fire by rank

Square formation

Platoon firing

Socket bayonet

Traits

Mentioned in dispatches (+1 morale, with +1 command when leading infantry units)

War, war never changes (Due to a large amount of experience in warfare while on the frontlines himself, this man knows just how much it can affect the people fighting in it and will do anything in his power to assist his men into surviving the physical wounds gained and overcoming the psychological scars it creates. Both his own men and his allies know this and are proud to stand by this man's side all the more because of it. +1 morale to any and all friendly forces, +20% chance of having wounded soldiers survive the fighting)

Courageous general (+3 morale when on land)

My enemy is the media (-1 morale due to past and present problems with the press)

Aggressive general (+2 command when attacking on land)

Aggressive commander (+2 command when attacking on sea)

An admiral born (+1 to morale in sea battles, +5 to sea campaign movement, -5% to naval upkeep)

Courageous Admiral (+2 to morale in sea battles +1 to command at sea)

Fighting admiral (+1 to command at sea, +4 to command when attacking)

Frigate captain (+1 to command with frigates)

None shall pass (+1 to command at sea +2 to command with frigates)

Hero of the downtrodden (He will always fight for the rights of those that have very little or none, no matter the cost to him personally or what positions he will reach in life. This will oft cause him to class with the less scrupulous members of the Nobility. Gives +4 love from the working class/commoners, -2 love from the higher class/ nobility)

Modern naval officers training (Gives +2 command and +1 morale when commanding a naval force in general and +4 command when commanding a force mostly comprised of modern naval vessels)

Infantry commander (+1 command and +2 morale when leading an army mainly consisting of infantry forces into battle)

Confident general (+1 to command in land battles)

Naval Hero (+5 to command at sea)

Requirements to recruit:

Special units are referring to specific people, the 'hero' units and leaders of their factions, which means that it is impossible to actually recruit them outside of personally convincing them to join your side over whatever group they are siding with now.

Units from Great Britain

Ferguson Riflemen

Category: Infantry

Class: Light Infantry

Men: 80

Range: 125

Accuracy: 70 (74 with runes)

Reloading skill: 35 (39 with runes)

Ammunition: 20

Melee attack: 4 (4.8 with runes)

Charge bonus: 6 (7.2 with runes)

Defence: 10

Morale: 7

Unit limit: 1

Turns to train: 2

Recruitment cost: £840

Upkeep cost: £210

Ferguson Riflemen are scouts and snipers, who harass the enemy by targeting officers and leaders.
Major Patrick Ferguson's remarkable and patented flintlock rifle is a breech-loading weapon, with a cunning screw mechanism that opens the breech for loading and still seals the chamber tightly for firing. In the hands of a well-trained man, firing the piece is rapid; the laborious business of muzzle loading is no more! The rifling makes it accurate and deadly!

Historically, Ferguson intended his gun to go into the hands of an elite force, under officers of enterprise and daring, who would move rapidly, use cover, and could deliver accurate and withering fire. In practice, the weapon was not a success, because it was difficult to manufacture in quantity and somewhat fragile in the rough conditions of a battlefield: the screw mechanism would jam if not treated with respect. After Ferguson was wounded in action, his critics lost no time in equipping the unit with Brown Bess muskets, and then eventually disbanding Ferguson's prize riflemen.

Abilities

Can guard

Can hide in buildings

Can hide in light scrub

Can hide in long grass

Can hide in woodland

Can skirmish

Good stamina

Grappling hooks

Heavily degraded Gandalfr runes (These heavily degraded versions of the original ones only give a fifth of the original's boost, but are still a force to be reckoned with. This means that while they get some more competence when wielding any weapon or driving any vehicle, their ability will only increase slightly. However the degradation with the ability to control vehicles is a lot less prominent than it is with any of the other abilities given by the runes, allowing them to still reach mediocre level of competence with any vehicle. Also, like the original version it allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Technological abilities

Can place stakes

Chevaux de frise

Earthworks

Fougasse

Improved fougasse

Light infantry tactics

Volley fire

Requirements to recruit:

Technology

Screw Breech

Building (minimum level)

Army Staff College

Current number:
1 full unit of 80 soldiers

General's Bodyguard

Category: Cavalry

Class: General

Men: 32

Melee attack: 9 (10.8 with runes)

Charge bonus: 14 (16.8 with runes)

Defence: 10

Morale: 12

Recruitment cost: £800

Upkeep cost: £60

These tough warriors and soldiers have only one task: keeping their commander alive and well in the swirling chaos of battle.

A general can only do his duty properly if these men keep rough and unpleasant fellows from interrupting his calm deliberations about how to kill as many of the enemy as possible for as little loss as possible.

Only the most loyal and fiercest fighters are assigned to a general's bodyguard. Good manners are a bonus, of course, but a strong sword arm and a deadly aim are more use! Their equipment is generally of the finest quality, and their pay is often supplemented from the general's own pocket: they have a sound financial interest in keeping him alive, as well as their honour in carrying out a duty successfully!

Abilities

Can rally routing troops

Inspires nearby units

To hell and back (Due to general Saito's brave behaviour during battles while having these men by his side, the men take heart seeing them together, +2 morale when leading an army with this as the command unit.)

Nerves of steel (Due to a large amount of experience in leading troops to victory against superior opponents when having these men as his personal bodyguard, the general has an easier time creating and putting to work good tactics and strategies when in command of it. +1 Command when facing numerically superior armies with this unit as the command unit.)
Heavily degraded Gandalfr runes (These heavily degraded versions of the original ones only give a fifth of the original's boost, but are still a force to be reckoned with. This means that while they get some more competence when wielding any weapon or driving any vehicle, their ability will only increase slightly. However the degradation with the ability to control vehicles is a lot less prominent than it is with any of the other abilities given by the runes, allowing them to still reach mediocre level of competence with any vehicle. Also, like the original version it allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Requirements to recruit:

This unit type can only be formed upon the recruitment of a new general, with all non-standard abilities and looks depending on the general in question.

Current number:

1 full unit of 32 mounted soldiers.

British settler infantry

Category: Infantry

Class: Militia

Men: 160

Range: 70

Accuracy: 25 (29 with runes)

Reloading skill: 10 (14 with runes)

Ammunition: 10

Melee attack: 4 (4.8 with runes)

Charge bonus: 4 (4.8 with runes)

Defence: 5

Morale: 8

Turns to train: 4

Recruitment cost: £700

Upkeep cost: £200

These troops are most often colonists and other seekers of a better or at the very least different life outside of their home country, each with their own reasoning but one shared goal in mind: to ease the settling of other areas by their home-country. Though these specific units are a special case in the fact that instead of following the will of a country, they follow the will individuals and will ease the settling of begotten areas in the name of either their general, Lord Saito or their political leader, Lady Louise de la Vallière.

The main disadvantage of these units is that they take longer to train/recruit then most units of similar quality because of the fact that there is a high chance that they won't be able to go back to their homeland ever again even when surviving all battles until their retirement, meaning that only those with extreme levels of either wanderlust, patriotism, desperation or a combination of all three are likely to join.

Abilities

Can guard

Can hide in light scrub

Can hide in woodland

Grappling hooks

Permanent Station (when this is activated, the troops will become part of the garrison of the area it is activated in and cannot be moved to outside the area anymore, but will have 50% lower upkeep cost and cause the activation of the For the homeland ability.)

For the homeland (when permanently stationed in an area, they will spread goodwill for whatever group they represent through both word and deed. Causes lower chance of unrest and a larger amount of happiness among the population to whatever ruler they represent.)

To death or victory (Upon seeing the conviction these men carry with them into battle, nearby units will gain heart and be near impossible to rout.)

Heavily degraded Gandalfr runes (These heavily degraded versions of the original ones only give a fifth of the original's boost, but are still a force to be reckoned with.
This means that while they get some more competence when wielding any weapon or driving any vehicle, their ability will only increase slightly. Though the degradation with the abilities to control vehicles is a lot less than it is with any other abilities, allowing them to still reach mediocre level of ability with any vehicle.
Also, like the original version it allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Technological abilities

Socket bayonet

Chevaux de frise

Upgraded earthworks (At the start of the battle they can always build earthworks/trenches without their army having to have been stationed in the location for a while. They can also build as many of these as they want mid battle, provided they are neither attacked during said construction and given the time to completely finish it before being given another order. Also allows for the construction of forts on the campaign map on any town/settlement in a region they want, though these cost twice as much as a normal fort. One advantage for this is that they can also be made in enemy territory, giving you a strong forward operating base.)

Requirements to recruit:

Technology:
National Pride (This when researched gives your people a strong feeling of national identity and causes them to feel united, despite their differences, with fellow members of said country)

Mass production muskets (When researched allows you to produce muskets on a large enough to scale to equip your regular troops with them.)

Building (minimum level):

Magistrate

Location:

Any region belonging to the factions home theatre.

Current number:

2 full units of 160 soldiers each.

British line infantry

Category: Infantry

Class: Line Infantry

Men: 160

Range: 70

Accuracy: 40 (44 with runes)

Reloading skill: 30 (34 with runes)

Ammunition: 15

Melee attack: 6 (7.2 with runes)

Charge bonus: 9 (10.8 with runes)

Defence: 15

Morale: 8

Turns to train: 2

Recruitment cost: £1140

Upkeep cost: £280

These musket-armed troops use massed volleys to break an enemy, relying on discipline to withstand any counter fire.

"Marching regiments" or "line battalions" make up the majority of units in European-style armies. They are so called because they form the line of battle, not because they always deploy in lines. Indeed, over time the capabilities of line infantry should improve as new tactics, drill and weaponry are developed.

These soldiers carry muzzle-loading, smoothbore muskets firing lead balls as wide as a man's thumb. These are inaccurate weapons, effective only over 200 paces or so and when fired in massed volleys. The ability to fire and reload with machine-like regularity with shot and bullet flying and comrades falling all around is what wins battles.

Historically, in many armies colonels received a fee to raise regiments, which remained their personal property and commands. They jealously guarded their rights to appoint friends, relatives and hangers-on as regimental officers. This contractor system, however, allowed unscrupulous officers to make handsome profits by pocketing the pay of non-existent soldiers. The better colonels did take a pride in their regiments, spending their own fortunes on good uniforms and weapons. The capabilities of a "standard" line infantry unit therefore varied between nations and over time. It wasn't until the 1760s that anything approaching uniformity of drill, equipment and regulations became the norm.

Line infantry regiments remained unchanged throughout the period, and their organisational pattern still forms the basis of modern military units.

Abilities:

Can guard

Can hide in woodland

Grappling hooks

Resistant to morale shocks

Heavily degraded Gandalfr runes (These heavily degraded versions of the original ones only give a fifth of the original's boost, but are still a force to be reckoned with. This means that while they get some more competence when wielding any weapon or driving any vehicle, their ability will only increase slightly. However the degradation with the ability to control vehicles is a lot less prominent than it is with any of the other abilities given by the runes, allowing them to still reach mediocre level of competence with any vehicle. Also, like the original version it allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Technological abilities:

Socket Bayonet

Chevaux de frise

Earthworks

Fire and advance

Fire by rank

Square formation

Requirements to recruit:

Technology:
Mass production muskets (When researched allows you to produce muskets on a large enough to scale to equip your troops with them)

Building (minimum level):
Barracks

or
Military governor's barracks

Current number:
1 full unit of 160 troops

Royal marines

Category: Infantry

Class: Line Infantry

Men: 160

Range: 70

Accuracy: 40 (44 with runes)

Reloading skill: 25 (29 with runes)

Ammunition: 15

Melee attack: 7 (8.4 with runes)

Charge bonus: 9 (10.8 with runes)

Defence: 10

Morale: 8

Unit limit: 1

Turns to train: 0

Recruitment cost: 1250

Upkeep cost: 330

The royal marines are very different from usual different versions of line infantry, in the way that they are actually slightly worse then regular line infantry units in ranged combat, but have a large advantage both in close quarters and morale wise. Not only this, but the way to recruit them is also very different from regular units, as instead of recruiting them in a town, you can recruit them by having a fleet at the port, where you then draw from the crew members of those ships to fill the units you are recruiting. This is way of recruiting can be useful if you have ships that are too expensive to repair but you need armies fast, since they appear inside the port as newly selectable units immediately.

While this makes them mainly troops to recruit in situations of dire need, they have a few other advantages, the main of which is the fact that they can build ships in an area without a shipyard, just a beach that ships can drop troops off on and that they can board ships from. However, these ships are literally trade cogs with very few to no guns, so while useful to cross a short distance, the danger of meeting enemy ships on long journeys over the ocean is too great to actually use them efficiently for that type of travel as their only effective measure against opposing ships is getting in boarding range, then trying to capture their ship through boarding.

Abilities:

Can guard

Can hide in woodland

Grappling hooks

Resistant to morale shocks

Improvised ships (Allows for the unit to build improvised ships without needing a port)

Crafting Rafts (Allows the unit to build rafts with which rivers can be crossed without needing bridges, both on the campaign map and on the battlefield map)

Heavily degraded Gandalfr runes (These heavily degraded versions of the original ones only give a fifth of the original's boost, but are still a force to be reckoned with. This means that while they get some more competence when wielding any weapon or driving any vehicle, their ability will only increase slightly. However the degradation with the ability to control vehicles is a lot less prominent than it is with any of the other abilities given by the runes, allowing them to still reach mediocre level of competence with any vehicle. Also, like the original version it allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Technological abilities:

Socket bayonet

Fire and advance

Fire by rank

Square formation

Requirements to recruit:

Technology:
Mass production muskets (When researched allows you to produce muskets on a large enough to scale to equip your troops with them)
Naval infantry training (When researched allows for the ability to retrain naval personnel into land units)

Reqruitment pool:
Nearby naval units with at least 160 crew members

Current number:
1 full unit of 160 soldiers

British marines

Category: Infantry

Class: Melee Infantry

Men: 160

Melee attack: 9 (10.8 with runes)

Charge bonus: 10 (12 with runes)

Defence: 16

Morale: 10

Turns to train: 0

Recruitment cost: 900

Upkeep cost: 150

The way to recruit these soldiers them is very different from regular units, as instead of recruiting them in a town, you can recruit them by having a fleet at the port, where you then draw from the crew members of those ships to fill the units you are recruiting. This is way of recruiting can be useful if you have ships that are too expensive to repair but you need armies fast, since they appear inside the port as newly selectable units immediately.

Outside of this they will mainly be useful in both the American theatre where you can use them to bypass the land barrier blocking the two seas to deliver them quickly to any destination in the mid-American region and the American Westcoast, or lastly as a mobile unit that can easily travel between all the Caribbean islands without needing regular ships to constantly wait around to pick them up, giving you some freedom to move trapped troops off the islands in case your local fleet gets taken out and your ports blockaded.

One of the main advantages this unit has outside of its special abilities is its combination of high morale and low upkeep cost, causing it to be a good garrison unit for cities if needed.

Abilities

Grappling hooks

Improvised ships (Allows for the unit to build improvised ships without needing a port)

Crafting Rafts (Allows the unit to build rafts with which rivers can be crossed without needing bridges, both on the campaign map and on the battlefield map)

Madman's rampage (once activated, won't stop until the battle ends. Has the advantage of making rout impossible, and gives +3 to both melee attack damage and charge damage bonus. However, once activated you also have no control over the unit anymore, and it will attack random opponents. Good as a distraction or sacrifice to give your army a chance to reform/to give cover to a strategic retreat, not much else.)

Heavily degraded Gandalfr runes (These heavily degraded versions of the original ones only give a fifth of the original's boost, but are still a force to be reckoned with. This means that while they get some more competence when wielding any weapon or driving any vehicle, their ability will only increase slightly. However the degradation with the ability to control vehicles is a lot less prominent than it is with any of the other abilities given by the runes, allowing them to still reach mediocre level of competence with any vehicle. Also, like the original version it allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Technological abilities

Square formation

Requirements to recruit:

Technology:
Mass production muskets (When researched allows you to produce muskets on a large enough to scale to equip your troops with them)
Naval infantry training (When researched allows for the ability to retrain naval personnel into land units)

Recruitment pool:
At minimum 1 ship with 160 or more crew members

Current number:
1 unit of 160 soldiers

24-lber Howitzer Foot Artillery

Category: Artillery
Class: Foot artillery
Men: 24
Guns: 4
Firepower: 40
Range: 350
Accuracy: 40 (44 with runes)
Reloading skill: 25 (29 with runes)
Melee attack: 6 (7.2 with runes)
Charge bonus: 6 (7.2 with runes)
Defence: 4
Morale: 3
Turns to train: 3
Recruitment cost: £650
Upkeep cost: £160

Howitzers send shells plunging into enemy formations and over defences, making cover irrelevant.

Howitzers fall somewhere between guns and mortars, the other main artillery types. They have a limited mobility, like guns. Like mortars, they do not fire straight at the target, but send shots high into the air to plunge down on a target (and over anything in the way). By angling the barrel and changing the propellant charge used, howitzers have an impressive flexibility in shell trajectories. Experienced crews can lob explosive shells and incendiary rounds with great accuracy into a "beaten zone", making life utterly miserable and very short for anyone within it. In close action, they can fire canister rounds directly into enemy formations, like giant sawn-off shotguns.

The term foot artillery applies because the gunners walk into battle alongside the draft animals. Like all artillery, the rating of these howitzers refers to the nominal weight of shot fired; loading the heavier pieces made for strong gunners!

Historically, howitzers – like many other artillery pieces – were far from standardised weapons in the 18th Century. Shells and spare parts made in one foundry did not always fit another foundry's pieces, even if the calibre was nominally identical and the two guns were part of the same battery in the field. It took a good deal of effort and argument to get foundries to standardise barrels and ancillary equipment, even in a single country.

Abilities

Can hide in woodland

Slow-moving

Heavily degraded Gandalfr runes (These heavily degraded versions of the original ones only give a fifth of the original's boost, but are still a force to be reckoned with. This means that while they get some more competence when wielding any weapon or driving any vehicle, their ability will only increase slightly. However the degradation with the ability to control vehicles is a lot less prominent than it is with any of the other abilities given by the runes, allowing them to still reach mediocre level of competence with any vehicle. Also, like the original version it allows for psychic communication with the summoner.)

Technological abilities

Gabionade

Requirements to recruit

Technology
Explosive shells

Building (minimum level):
Ordnance Board

Current number:
1 full unit of 24 soldiers