GURPS Fantasy Warriors Session 6: The Treaty of the Sunstone Bridge

Characters:

Granmarg The Striking Vanguard, The Boulderstruck, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate
Pomegranite The Treefallen, The Spymaster

Mielikki The Field Marshal, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

Thicket The Grandmaster Terramorpher, Member of the Earthling Triumvirate

The Battle Concludes

Swiftbreeze advanced with his reinforcements and pushed the Lumenians back into the center of the bridge, to which Eremon responded by annihilating an already-debilitated earthling formation in a hail of fireballs and arrows.  Felix moved up to take the now empty position, while Hugo charged back across the bridge, picking up stragglers on the way and slamming into Swiftbreeze's troops.  With Granmarg and Groutite still incapacitated by their wounds, Hugo easily swept Swiftbreeze and Bramble from the field, inflicting fresh injuries as they only narrowly escaped.

The sun was low in the sky, and, with neither side securing a clear victory nor with enough soldiers to continue the battle, the two armies retreated to their camps, and messengers were sent back and forth to arrange for negotiations.  The earthlings did some quick strategizing and came up with the three-point agenda of seizing land as recompense for the unjustified invasion, Lumene supporting the earthling claims of innocence in the murder of the Emperor, and for both sides to swear an oath to uphold peace.  Despite the many protestations of Pomegranite and concurrence of Granmarg, Mielikki and Thicket did not agree to add a pledge for Lumene to aid them in their (eventual) fight against the dwarves.

A pavilion was erected in the middle of the bridge, and each side sent a delegation of their commanders and one bodyguard each.  Thicket brought Papaver, his religious advisor, despite the flower-man's poor ability in a fight, because clearly the favour of Terra was all the protection he needed.  Granmarg greatly slowed the earthlings as they walked out to the meeting due to his injuries and a refusal of assistance.

Negotiations

Most of the Lumenian delegation was unfamiliar to the earthlings, as they'd only fought Hugo up close.  Edelina had her usual angelic bodyguard, while Eremon was accompanied by another priest in purple robes, and Felix was backed up by a man in middle-age who looked to be a peasant.  Hugo had brought Petronilla, his wife, who was leaning on her oversized crossbow.  Mielikki praised the humans as worthy foes, which he had not expected, to which Hugo replied that he was similarly surprised; the tales of earthling martial prowess had clearly been exaggerated over the generations since the last war.

Before things could escalate, Edelina stepped in and tried to push for peace.  If the earthlings would just recognize Astraeus as the prime deity, any further violence could be avoided.  After all, the end times were clearly upon them, as the sun hanging red in the sky and the stars going out were both foretold by The Book, the imperial religious text.  When Astraeus returned, any who were not a member of his faithful were going to burn!  The fervour she spoke with made the earthlings realize that, whether she was right or not, she was truly sincere.

The earthlings were, as before, uninterested in this foreign religion.  Their own Terran faith foretold of the end coming through an enormous volcanic eruption that would smother the lands in ash, crushing all sin of the current world and leaving behind a clean slate.  Mielikki told them as much, claiming that Edelina's claims were false and shortsighted, as humans typically were, with Thicket joining in to state that human religion was as impermanent and fluid as though it were made from seawater.  The stars going out was surely nothing more than coincidence!

This time,  it was Pomegranite, the only earthling present who followed the Imperial Faith, who stepped in to move the conversation along.  As both nations were clearly military equals, this would need to be settled with words ("After all, neither of us are dwarves").  At a prompting from Eremon to continue, Pomegranite brought up the idea of a pact between the two nations.  Both sides would be sworn to uphold the peace by taking an oath on their honour.  All such oaths were binding, and any who broke them would be reviled as treacherous by the rest of the world.

To further the goals of peace between faiths, Edelina suggested that the earthlings take in the religious minority of Minerva worshippers (the human name for the earthling god Terra), who resided in Monte Villay.  Granmarg suggested that such a thing would be possible if the Lumenians agreed to support the earthling claim that they had not been involved in the assassination of the Emperor, to which Eremon agreed immediately; he had been in the palace with them when it had happened, so as far as he was concerned, the Triumvirate (and also Pomegranite), at least, were innocent.

He continued, saying that perhaps further economic ties would help strengthen the peace as well.  Lumenian folk magic involved focusing sunlight through crystal lenses, and the gemstones of the Highland Forests were the greatest in the world.  Thicket said that they may be open to such a payment, but in exchange for the bounty of the earth, they would need more earth to cultivate.  The lands of Lumene a day's march east of the Sunstone River would be a fair trade.

With all of both sides' requests in the open, negotiations proceeded.  The earthlings discarded the concept of religious conversion, which deeply saddened Edelina, while Lumene similarly dismissed the idea of giving away their lands.  The oath of peace was agreed to, as was the transfer of human Minerva worshippers.  However, Pomegranite needled Hugo until he got him to admit that that was a pressing issue that would save them repression and subsequent reprisals, which bought the earthlings concessions in the gem shipments.  Lastly, Lumene agreed to back the earthling claim that they were innocent in the assassination the Emperor.

The treaty was written out, and the 8 commanders present signed while swearing an oath on their honour.  With the war over as quickly as it had began, the two armies began the trek home.

Winter

Over the rest of the year, a steady trickle of Lumenian Minerva worshippers were resettled into the Highland Forests, where the triumvirate used them to lighten the workload on earthling peasants such that they could do more useful work.  There was some fear of the general populace objecting to this surge of foreigners, but this turned out to be unfounded, as the coreligionists were warmly welcomed.

Unfortunately, this included the new high priest of Terra they'd appointed, who had turned out to be more of a moderate than expected, and was moving to change doctrine to allow co-existence with the Imperial Faith.  While Granmarg and Pomegranite didn't particularly care, this incensed Mielikki and enraged Thicket.  There was some discussion of what to do; Mielikki first suggested removing the high priest, who was a cousin of his, by framing it as trying to avoid one family being too powerful.  Thicket had the idea of sending him off on a pilgrimage across the world, but retracted it when Granmarg pointed out that, assuming he survived, that would lend him quite a bit of sway in the future.

Still insisting that something must be done, Thicket floated the idea of starting The Games 5 years early.  As a true believer in both Terra and the structure of earthling society, he had unshakeable faith that the blessed of Terra (which clearly included himself, and not the High Priest), would have no problems winning and attaining their prior posts again.  Suddenly, the alliances flipped; Mielikki and Pomegranite wanted to avoid the risk of losing their posts before having a full term at all costs.

Granmarg, meanwhile, was all for it, hungry for more chances to test himself in battle.  Many long days of meetings with no clear resolution issue passed.  Finally, one evening after they had finally adjourned an eight-hour session with no progress being made, Granmarg and Thicket shocked the others by making a public announcement to the people of Bedrock: let The Games begin!

Notes:

The battle ended in a tie.  Total deaths: ~600 earthlings, ~1000 Lumenians.

The oath to uphold peace with Lumene is a little one-sided, as they typically end when a new ruler assumes the throne and the humans of Lumene die much earlier than the earthlings.  Murder and/or death in battle notwithstanding.  Not that this will matter in game.

Due to Thicket's decision to take his most faithful follower to the negotiations, I present the Thicket Advisor Religiosity Tier List: 

- Papaver: 7/10

- Shudderblight: moderately

- Solidoak: areligious

As the earthling society is a "meritocracy", where people gain rank due to personal skill and certainly not nepotism and structural socio-economic inequality, their lower classes are viewed much worse than peasants in the human societies.  After all, they had a chance, and they blew it.