Tournament of
Ascension Challenge
A 24 gun barkentine is shipwrecked in
a
storm. The survivors swim from the rocks along the shore having lost
their ship, their muskets, and their hand weapons. For many, they lost
their lives.
They don't know what land that they have shipwrecked upon. They don't
know where they are. After the flash of blinding light, the sky looked
wrong. That night, after the storm had cleared, there was a much larger
moon in the sky and the star patterns were all wrong. They don't know
where they are in the worst way.
They encounter locals of a strange smooth headed race. These people
wear dresses regardless of their gender and their men fight valiantly
before dying. The locals are apparently an honorable race. The crew
cuts their way inland tearing a path with their daqtags and the
occasional sword or musket that they "acquired" from burning homesteads.
They are halted when they enter the territories of Fearchear's clan.
Being a small clan familiar with being outnumbered, they have long
learned to fight more viciously. The clansmen fight the outsiders to a
halt in a battle that costs both sides half of their effectives.
Both sides eventually become very tired an bloodied. They are also
getting hungry. In spite of the language and appearance differences,
they manage to declare a truce to tend to wounded and dead. As they
Howl over their own dead, the Howls frighten the local clansmen at
first. But the clansmen quickly become used to the ritual and Howl with
the strangers. Since the clansman bury their dead in a ritual of their
own, the crew observed at first and then assisted with the digging.
Both sides Howled as each clansman was lowered into the ground.
At this point, tired, bloody, and hungry, the crew accept the offer of
food and drink from the clansmen who Howled for their dead. Because of
the Honor given the dead of each side, this parley stretches through
the night as they try to communicate with drawings and objects. It
becomes readily apparent that the crew doesn't know the sky or land
here. Nor have they seen races with such a smooth foreheads. Their
leaders, while working very patiently through the night, managed to get
across the words and concepts of "klingon" and "human".
Being a stranger in a strange land, the klingon Captain decides to
cease fighting in order to preserve the remains of his command. As mead
and wine are spread around, the two leaders attempt to "discuss" a
longer lasting peace. It eventually become apparent that both sides are
ready to cease fighting. The fighting had been fierce and Honorable.
Both sides had taken terrible casualties. Both sides knew they they had
been a small force to begin with and that they must mutually and
exclusively attempt to preserve what was left.
Upon the morrow, as the clansmen pack up to return to their home lands,
the klingon Captain instructs his men to follow the humans. This at
first is mistaken for a preparation for another battle until the
klingon Captain manages to get across to the clan leader that they only
mean to follow them.
They follow the clansmen through many fields and woods back to the clan
home territory. There, the clansmen tell of the terrible battle and the
crew attempts to show respect for the fallen and the living Warriors of
the sons of Fearchear. The crew camps near the settlements of Fearchear
and hunts with Fearchear's son's men. They learn the terrain and
animals. They also learn an intense hatred for the common foe of the
sachsenach from the south.
Over time, the surviving crew acquit themselves well in the service of
the clan Farquharson fighting the British and protecting the
Farquharson villages from those southern invaders.
As the clansmen lost many men over time, with the discovery of the
crew, and fighting the redcoats, there were widows and girls without
their man. The crew had arrived as a mixed group of men and women. The
womenfolk of the clan took the unattached crewmen as husbands to
replace those lost. Some of the stronger clansmen even survived taking
a wife from the crew. The ties grew stronger over time as the children
of the clan and crew began to grow and marry. Ultimately, the strength
of the highland clan Farquharson was to be reinforced by the blood of
the Son's of Kahless.
It was the mere lack of size of the clan that cost them
300 Warriors
fighting the british at Colloden. When those three thousand showed up
to fight, they were certainly worth more than their numbers and the
battle showed them well.
I descended from them. I descended from Finlay Fearchear who founded
our clan in 1516. I also descended from the Son's of Kahless who were
shipwrecked upon a strange planet. I proudly wear my klingon armor over
my Farquharson tartan kilt.
I also challenge any who would take with levity, my family tartan, my
kilt, or my klingon heritage. Jest if you dare, then die before me in
the Ring.
The Tournament of Ascension will be Oktober 10th-12th. You can
try die at my hands there.
http://www.janissaries.net/ikvmelota/bob2_small.rm
Strength and Honor
Cdr. Salek Sutai
Ship's Brewer, IKV Melota
www.janissaries.net
