The Warlords

> “*Yeah? Well, the only thing we know about these discount China Samurai warlord guys- (Soldier 1: Samurais are Japanese, sir..)- I can’t give a smaller damn, get back to your post. The only thing we know is that they’re old, they were dead, and now they’re back. Only thing they know is to kill every single damn being here that isn’t a plant, which if you haven’t noticed already, is us.”*
> -Sergeant Nhojson’s remark on the Warlords
>
>

*The **Warlords** were a coalition of Saxon Chieftains which banded together under the de facto leadership of the apparent ‘King’ Holbein Kärlusten, known to be one of the most ferocious warriors and powerful beings that existed in the Grand Covenant of Germany during their two time periods that they did. After sacrificing their lives for the Covenant in the War of The Fates, better known as the War of Destiny, they were resurrected using modern Antecedent technology as malevolent corporeal spirits who possessed eldritch powers, which could easily destroy and kill legends like the* CENTURION-I Agent Pea and the Ghost of Prussia, Thiell von Veladermie.

They appear as mentioned dialogue in *Plants vs Zombies: Titan Wars Chapter 1* and are the main bosses of *Chapter 2.*

## Rise of the Warlords

In 1866, deep into the War of Destiny had the conflict reached its height. The major civil war which as the name suggested, would decide the fate of the Grand Covenant of Germany, being the growing hegemony that it was, which held the central government and battled in the territories of Hungary and Prussia against former Hochmeister Otto von Bismarck’s revolutionary army, which fought for ‘true independence’ against the Covenant, and a collective of Hungarian proletariat societies strictly abolitionist of the Covenant’s horrible treatment of the Hungarian race since their assimilation in 1457 and completely hostile to the Hapsburgs. After months of continuous civil warfare destroying multiple regions across Hungary and Prussia, the Grand Covenant was indeed winning, but fuel for the war effort was dwindling as the casualties stockpiled and morale became increasingly weak amongst the counterrevolutionary guard.

It was only until the Warlords gained infamy after embarking on a mass campaign of violence against a series of Prussian settlements in Pomerania, and defeating multiple Rebel skirmisher regiments that were loyal to the revolutionary Otto von Bismarck. The Warlords would then continue to fight along the counterrevolutionary guard of the Covenant, and demonstrated such power that a sheer revolutionary army led by *Frederich Sugenzberg* had failed to defeat them; even though the Warlords were outnumbered 1 to 70 with considerable injuries. Due to this, the Warlords rose to prominence and became a official force of the Grand Covenant, and were infused with Antecedent technologies to godhood, becoming immortal and granted supreme power, which made them nigh-invincible to the revolutionaries. It was due to this that Bismarck would continuously develop unconventional warfare again and again to counter the threat of the Warlords, which easily crushed standing armies with their sheer strength.

Slowly but surely, the Covenant grew heavily dependent on the Warlords, mere individuals by themselves, that Germany basically regarded them as Demi-gods and the counterrevolutionaries fought not amongst but under their charge, but disaster struck when three of the seven warlords were killed in action by a sudden avalanche. With this tactic in mind, Bismarck led the Warlords to fight near the ocean, and sacrificed multiple battleships to drown two of the four remaining Warlords by colliding them with the ships, bringing them to the bottom of the Prussian coastline. As the counterrevolutionaries approached the gates of Königsberg, Bismarck’s troops would yet again sacrifice twenty stockpiles of ammunition, igniting it and setting a stronghold singlehandedly captured by a Warlord ablaze, killing him. The last, King Karlüsten, would ultimately go down fighting, driving the entire battle to victory for the Covenant against an enemy that knew it was going to lose.

## Back From The Grave

In 1917, in preparation for the Great Scission, the Hapsburgs personally retrieved the by-then rotting corpses of the Warlords, intending to revive them by Antecedent technology. They did so using defibrillator techniques, and used mass amounts of electricity to shock them back to life, healing back whatever skin they lost but in the process turning it totally grey. Upon revival, the Warlords were given a one-sided explanation of the war effort, and were convinced they were brought back from the dead to save the Grand Covenant once more during its time in need. The Warlords were so anchored into the belief of the *Great Odyssey* and the lifeline of the Covenant that they almost immediately agreed and readied themselves for battle. They said to be driven by a belief that the Prussians were forever treacherous heretics that deserved to be exterminated, and they had this thought in their minds from the day they were revived. The Warlords, mainly King Karlüsten, go on to play a great role in the destruction of many Prussian ‘rebel’ cells, but would be unable to take down in time for the *Fleet of Reckoning* to assemble and forge the alliance with the Entente.