Kartagan Uprising

The brutal combat outside of Zenkar's gates

The capital of Kartaga, Zenkar is well renowned for its bustling streets, the vibrant colors of all the flowers and dyes brought in by merchants. The sounds you hear are laughter from children and drunken patrons, haggling men at the market square and pets. The hot sun shines down brightly upon Kartaga and such it is gifted with fertile lands, healthy people and riches beyond human imagination. It wasn't always like this however, once upon a time the beautiful Kartagan fields were filled with blood, bone and the bodies of the inhabitants themselves.

## The arrival of the Brutuli tribe

For as long as anyone in the land could remember Kartaga was free land, land where anyone could become anything and live good. Civilization prospered and the only goal of the civilization was to live their lives as they see fit. They were loving and welcoming people, however that would later become their undoing when they let a tribe named "Brutuli" into the fertile fields that these people have worked on for a milennia. It had seemed fine for a while and the two people lived in peace and harmony for about a decade until the rest of the Brutuli arrived. These people were not like the ones who came 10 years ago however, sure the last Brutuli who emmigrated were rough but they seemed okay after a while. The new migrators were warriors, scarred and had dried blood on their clothes and poorly treated weapons. The people brought them in but the hospility of the Kartagans was not respected which immedieatly set the Brutuli off on the wrong foot. As the native Kartagans had no standing army they could not resist the Brutuli when they decided to take all power, many men took up arms to fight but it was futile as they were brutally slaughtered. For three centuries the Karteese where treated like nothing and were brutally murdered and tortured for the slightest of mishaps and merely by just looking at them. The Brutuli made the peaceful lands of Kartaga into a warzone where young men and women fought against the oppressors every day, every week that passed freedom felt more and more distant and the people had no hope.

## The Phoenix Rises

Alejandro De Léon, a man not known to the authority but well beloved by the people were planning a great uprising. The gods does not favour men who bend their knees to unrightful rulers. The people believed this man to be beloved and chosen by the gods, as he has seen great visions of large golden-maned lions the people has begun to call him "De Léon" for believing he is chosen by the humanity protecting god of Léon. He had, in the shadows been gathering a large army in the shape of the slaves of Brutuli. "No longer shall the Karteese be slaves, no longer shall we serve the pitiful Brutuli, the gods are with us!". These are the words that echoed in the streets as the unified people of Kartaga properly stood up for the first time against the enemies. A great battle was ahead and this would determine if the name "Kartaga" would simply fade away from history, or rise anew like a glorious phoenix, flapping its large wings to avoid barbaric ground predators.

## The battle of the seven lions

#### Pre-Battle

Before the battle, shouts and warcries can be heard by the hopeful Karteese men while the Brutuli warriors can barely hold themselves from laughter as the puny slaves as they call them rise up once again. They keep throwing insults at them, to no avail, in fact the Karteese gets more angered by every insult. When Alejandro walks up in his broken armor, shield covered in blue and yellow and his sharpened sword. He gives an arousing speech and everone goes silent, Karteese and Brutulian alike. "Hear me! For three hundred years we have suffered at the hands of these men, their ancestors treated ours like dirt, they tortured them, killed them for sport and for fun. No more! This is the day Brutuli shall bow to us, they shall feel the sharp edge of our blades and they will learn to fear Kartaga!" The Karteese forces cheer and shout while the Brutuli are looking at eachother in confusion and fear, unsure if this will really be an easy small uprising to deal with.

#### Battle in the city

The Brutuli, without a thought charged the Karteese just like they always do, however this time the Karteese were ready for it. A steady and united hoplite wall was created as a loud stomp and shout comes from the Karteese line. The brutuli throw themselves at the solid line of men and in the start the Karteese seem really uneasy, losing ground and men but under Alejandro's tight iron fist the lines are reinforced and he orders the line to open up to let some of the Brutuli forces charge through only to get jumped by the angry Karteese. A Brutuli captain finds himself exposed as he was the man leading this contingement, he bursts out slaying one man at a time until Alejandro orders the men to stay back and reinforce the lines instead. Alejandro tightens his grip around the blade and then raises it above the shield, focused at the large man holding his large axe. The Brutulian charges Alejandro and he swiftly dodges it and slice the captain through the side of his chest. The captain turns around dropping his axe, putting his hand upon the large gaping wound until Alejandro plunge his sword into the captains heart and throws him to the ground. The Brutuli forces is terrified at the sight of this and retreats. The rest of the Karteese forces managed to push off the Brutuli and eventually the city has been taken. Blood is covering the streets of Zenkar, so much blood so the men can barely walk on the stone roads without slipping and the river going south east can be seen flowing red.

#### Battle outside of the city

The cheers and laughter of the people echo in the streets, however it gets silenced by Brutulian war songs in the distance. Alejandro climbs a watchtower and sees the army of Brutuli in the horizon. He sighs but knows what he must do, this is the real battle. Knowing that the food supplies are too low since the retreating Brutuli forces burned it on the way out. He gathers every man who still stands and marches them out of the gates to get into position. The men shouts "Liberation, Justice" by every step they take. The hoplite wall are formed and the riders have gathered around the flanks. Alejandro gave out strips of leather to let some of them be used as ranged units in the shape of slingers. The king of the Brutuli, Markos looks as Alejandro with distaste and the young leader gazes back with a smile until he continues to order his troops into position. Markos orders his forces to advance upon the slave rabble that has gotten too over their head without much care, making the very same mistake as the captain of the guard did inside of the city. Alejandro holds yet another arousing speech and unifies the people, the Brutuli marches straight forward, never giving a thought to actually attempting to outmaneuver the enemy. Alejandro sends his cavalry forwards and the heavily armored Brutulian cavalry fights a bloody battle with the inspired and high moraled Karteese cavalry. It ends with the Karteese victorious but so wounded that they had to withdraw from the battlefield. The Kartagan army has done enough waiting around, they charge the enemy now. Throwing a javelin a man each until charging with incredible might throwing many Brutulians back and with the spears piercing the faces of the frontline men they are demoralized. King Markos starts singing an old Brutulian war song and rides around inspiring them while Alejandro calls his soldiers by name to fight hard. The Karteese are being hit by a volley of arrows from behind the hill and their morale starts to break, pushed back to the gates of the city fear strikes the people. Thoughts of what will happen if this uprising fails starts to hit people, what will happen to us? They hold a valiant defense with Alejandro in the middle of the Hoplite wall at this point, tooth and nail they fight for their freedom, even though it feels futile at this point. From the hills to the south a loud roar shatters the wind and the fighting stops. Seven large lions with golden manes are seen running towards the Brutuli and crash through their forces, biting off limbs and clawing through entire armor pieces. The Brutuli scatter and the exhausted and wounded Karteese men look surprised, the sun shines upon Alejandro as he stands back up looking towards the horizon, right at king Markos. Alejandro walks forwards, looking only towards his enemy and does not stop for anything. A man runs towards arturo and swings towards him, Alejandro jumps to the side and pierce the sword through the warriors throat. Man by man, 23 men make their way to the blood thirsty man in an attempt to protect their liege with no success. Alejandro fights like never before, with great ferocity he lunges from side to side swinging his blade with great precision and sends them all to Cruz and his underworld where they will have to hide from all kinds of brutal creations and vicious beasts. When he gets close to Markos, Markos laughs. Arrows unleash from behind and as the bloodthirst had overcome over him he had forgotten about it. Arrows pierce his body, one through his right lung, five through his legs, two in his left shoulder, one in his left hand, 6 arrows pierce his stomach and chest. He falls to his knees, arrows holding him up. Markos walks up with a grin, the Karteese men in the back are shocked to see their hero killed. Silence fills the air, only Markos' chuckles can be heard. The lions are looking upon Alejandro from a distance. When Markos is standing in front of the dead hero, he hears a struggled breath, and before he knows it, Alejandro have plunged his sword into Markos' heart. Markos falls to the ground and Alejandro lets go off one last breath.

#### Post-Battle

There was no songs sung after this battle, not only had entire families been wiped out but their hero is dead on the fields of Zenkar. The men put their hero on the back of a lion, to be sent in to the city on top of one of the creatures sent by Léon to aid them in their struggle. The son of Alejandro, Arturo was heartbroken to see his father dead he ran towards his father and embraced him. Saying, "I will not dissapoint you, father. I will uphold your legacy, I am proud of you." before the lions carried him away to the temple to the gods.

## Funeral of Alejandro De Léon

It was a day of mourning yet celebration to the people of Kartaga, freedom has been won. The Brutuli had been beaten back and the gods have blessed us by aiding us with lions in battle. The hero of Kartaga and the legend of Alejandro De Léon will never fade away. The saviour of the people of Kartaga and the man who ensured Kartaga will have a spot in the history books. Due to the poor circumstances of the town the funeral could not be as grand as everyone wanted. His body was led through town by the lions who saved them, off to the temple to have a ceremonial funeral. He was put on the stone floor with seven lions laying around him, one by one people were let to speak to their hero in peace. Maria and Arturo De Léon walked up together, weeping and holding eachother when they put one hand on their husband and father and thanks him for all he has done, and that they could not be more proud of him. "By now he is drinking wine with Cesar, telling stories and being honored as a god himself, I am sure of that." Young Arturo says. Alejandro is then buried under the temple, honoring the gods with his eternal presence. The wife of Alejandro, Maria died soon after of heartache and the 15 year old Arturo had to lead this new nation.

## Outcome

This would lead to an independent Kartaga and a thriving state where men who are chosen by the gods rule the land and the people who are chosen to be servants and slaves shall be so. For three hundred years the Karteese population were slaves and treated like dirt. The Kartagans can still be seen as a rough people for how murder, torture and dominance is part of their ways. However they do not wish unprovoked harm upon anyone, they want everyone to live in harmony and peace, like how they did long ago. However Kartaga would never be slaves again.