Second Welcoming
"They gave us translators to wear around our necks so we could understand the orders, and they worked amazingly well. But the language they made us speak was so incomprehensible that I couldn't imitate the accent. I understood everything they said to me, and they understood what I had to say, but I couldn't repeat what I had said myself. I had to trust that what I said was what I thought."
Letter recovered from a footlocker in a West Felimon outpost
At the turn of the 250th Revolution, the new Duke of Histan was sworn in, Histan's economy was booming, and the Confederacy of High Mages had reached an economic low.
The new Duke was much of a showboat; One of the first things he did as New Duke was hold a fifty-thousand-strong military parade, complete with an aeromagic showcase. He would often attend ceremonial events in gold and gylmium armor, boasting about how it was worn by Gigan Horast1 during the Battle of Jorus Way in 137R; he'd be escorted out at one point after a fight broke out between him and the elder-son of a Berug veteran. Often would he hang a giant banner of Histan from the back of his autocarriage, two of them if he was going through Berug.2 He'd also brag about his endless collection of Sprout War era weapons, including the only prototype of a steed-musket, the only attempt to give horses ranged weaponry; testing of the steed-musket ended after the 5th horse to be tested shot a mage for giving it knowledge on how to use a musket.
His ego shone through once he traveled to the Confederacy in 252R for a speech concerning the growing tension within the League of Yoren, most of which was perpetrated by him, after which he had been told about Transrealmology by President Hapless over some mead. It was the fact that Histan was the first to conceive it that convinced the New Duke to begin a revival of Transrealmology, despite being denied funding from the League, who was considering removing and court-martialing him for possibly bringing Earth-Humanity back to Yoren; this was ultimately voted against based on the New Duke being one of their largest donors.
The New Duke proposed to introduce Earth-Human militants into the Histan armed forces to bolster their dominance in the wars to come. It was a heavily argued-against plan among the League, but after Histan's top lawyers pleaded on the New Duke's behalf and another, unrelated donation3 went through, they wrote up extensive parchmentwork to regulate the use of Earth-Human combatants within the New Duke's army.
The New Duke's reasoning stemmed from seeing the machine-based weapons of the Earth-Human armies, as well as their affinity for war and eagerness to produce more war machines, and their ability to evolve these machines as fast as the wars themselves. "Their evolution was based on bringing fear to the nations they despised, alongside simply wanting to invent the next 'best weapon' out of fear that their adversaries would beat them to it; this was the reason they once held the power of their Sun within their bombs and unleashed it upon their enemies. Of course, this was before they came to their senses and finally waved this power off as a needless tragedy left twiddling its thumbs, waiting to make another mark on their Earth."4
One of the first examples the New Duke used was an Earth-Human conflict labeled by their historical texts as World War Two. Very little information is available on the cause of such a large conflict; however, the belligerents and their technologies are very well known.
On one side were the Axis Powers. This alliance consisted of the Earth-nations Germany, the Soviet Union, and Italy, who were most likely fighting together to claim the lands of the Earth-continent Europe. The industries of these Earth-nations varied differently; the Germans focused on quality, mostly producing heavily-armored war machines, contrasting the Soviet Union's preference for quantity, usually having less foreboding armor than their ally, in favor of sheer numbers. Italy's armored machines were built for speed and mobility, an advantage that would later dominate Germany when they joined the Allied Powers; however, they weren't able to produce as many machines as their allies, supposedly due to budget constraints and carrying capacity.
On the other side of the war were the aforementioned Allied Powers, which started as Earth-nations Britain and China, then later the United States of America and the Soviet Union. Britain would focus on a two-pronged war machine doctrine, sending light, fast vehicles to break up the front lines, followed by larger, heavier vehicles to clear the way for foot soldiers. China utilized a mix of many doctrines in a desperate bid to ward off Russian attacks, using vehicles purchased from Russia itself and producing as much armor as their industries allowed for, though they were eventually overwhelmed by the numbers of Russia's Red Army and surrendered in 1943. The United States of America designed most of its war machines to be sent in after an infantry breakthrough, as well as anti-tank ordinance, used heavily during its invasion of Germany.
Past this conflict, their war machines evolved greatly. Their tank variants, designed with limited roles in mind, consolidated into the Main Battle Tank, a jack-of-all-trades5 self-propelled gun used for direct fire and infantry support. They also evolved their troop carriers into Infantry Fighting Vehicles, used to transport infantry into heavily contested areas while fighting off swathes of enemies. These machines proved themselves greatly in the Third World War, a conflict spanning the same continent as the former World War, although much shorter, lasting from 1982 to 1987.
Flying machines were a different matter. Without the Magic Arts, levitation and flight were daunting tasks, especially with such heavy machines. The Earth-Human equivalent of a Levitator was the helicopter, using lift-blades in a similar fashion to a Dwarven Levitator, though using secondary lift-blades to control horizontal rotation rather than reaction wheels. There was also the airplane, using compressed air and artificial lift for propulsion rather than simple flight magic. Such limitations called for long airstrips for takeoff, meaning such machines were out of the question for importing. Helicopters did not require airstrips, allowing Histan to import them.
Earth-Human naval forces were mostly made for coastal defense and support for land invasion, though they quickly became a matter of power projection, seen by their "aircraft carriers," used as a water-based launch platform for flying machines. Similar to the navies of Yoren, their ships were ironclad, using large cannons to provide artillery for coastal invasions or to sink enemy fleets. Histan's naval ports built separate variants of the Hubs to accommodate ships as large as battleships.
Now, even though they had the permission and funds to reignite Transrealmology, the exact methods of astral projection needed for trans-realm transportation lay only in the hands of the Confederacy of High Mages. Worse still, Transrealmology was shunned amongst the Mages and was considered an atrocity, with the Highest Mages being left in a depression following the outlawing of the same Earth-Humans that they so helped bring to Yoren. Thus, it took almost a revolution of convincing until the New Duke remembered their economic crisis and, using his most reliable negotiation tactic, offered Φ10,000,000,000 in exchange for their assistance in Transrealmology. The Mages, seeing how this sum of yigs could bring their failing nation out of poverty, agreed to his terms and commissioned Wizardyne to construct a dedicated Trans-Realm Hub for the Earth-Humans, a feat of engineering not seen since the First Welcoming.67 Once the Hubs were constructed on select army bases and calibrated to import 10,000 Earth-Humans from Earth-Revolutions 1940-2022, they were opened on the 45th of Nall, 253R.
Once the first Earth-Human militants were imported, it became apparent that their species was incredibly skittish. Many incidents flared up, though silenced at first, involving Hub operators being injured by Earth-Humans upon their arrival, though after sedation, they'd come to their senses and cooperate. Further troubles arose from convincing the Earth-Humans they were not in the Afterlife and that they were brought here to fight for Histan, though many objected on the basis that they were afraid of dying again. They were eventually given an option to deny service,8 though this option had many disadvantages tacked on, such as higher taxes and limited job opportunities due to the lack of citizenship, forcing them to serve the New Duke. As well as assimilating them into existing battalions, new ones were formed exclusively for Earth-Humans, such as airborne infantry and flying machine boarding parties (172nd Aeroborne and 19th Boarding Specialists, respectively). Those who piloted their war machine upon death would keep their role and their vehicle, while various other Earth-Human squadrons were trained on Histani hardware.9
It took some time and resources to adjust Earth-Humanity to Yoren armor conventions, what with fitting them with lance armor and thaumaturgical shielding. By 255R, the armor demands were met, and the Hubs were closed down. Following this, Earth-Humans were briefed on the ongoing Felimon War, a conflict just south of Histan that unraveled from Felimon president Jamen Rosmen's supposed threats against Histan.10 When they were deployed, they were given a choice between Histan service staffs and the gear they were issued on Earth, with most going with the latter, and just months after deployment, half of Felimon's militias were depleted. However, Earth-Human's involvement in Felimon was slowed following an incident in Western Histan.
The Nam Revolution
"Collins told us to drive the convoy East, about where Massachusetts would be. He said to just follow him until we got to the 'new outpost,' leading our Humvees alongside some Soviet tanks, T-62's and such, and a couple of old Grads. We saw some more convoys on the same road, Shermans, Urals, Merkavas, I think a couple of Panzers, all heading East. We got to the outpost and saw Histanis being driven out, like we were making room just for us. I only saw human people in that outpost."
Interview with a captured Earth-Human
By the time Earth-Humans were sent to war, many precautions were put in place to handle rogue Earth-Humans upon arrival. Therefore, Histan's native army was familiar with having to track down runaway soldiers and even squadrons, either talking them into returning to Earth-Human training centers or executing them and staying silent about their disappearance. This changed when a squadron from their 196th Infantry Brigade was imported from the Earth-Human country of Vietnam, where they almost immediately opened fire on Hub operators and went missing in western Histan on the 7th of Heln, 256R, prompting a search from Histan's 4th Nationguards.
Some days later, surveillance found the squadron in Kajmon Forest National Park11, where the Nationguards began marching through the trail, using Soultrackers and eventually calling out their names when they failed to find them with tracking magic. As the Nationguards approached the Lokjah Bends in the southern end of the park, the 196th squadron revealed themselves in the thick of the forest to the Nationguard's left before their machine musketeer opened fire, killing 8 Nationguards and gravely injuring many more; a medevac arrived just as the 196th escaped the scene. They were found again by Histan special forces on the west end of the park and swiftly neutralized, though not before word got out about the shooting at Lokjah Bends.
When the media covered the shooting, the wedge driven between the Yoren people and Earth-Humans, which stemmed from the already-tragic First Welcoming, pushed down even harder. Politicians began peddling anti-Earth-Human propaganda, passing laws that put more pressure on Earth-Human soldiers, and even attempted to bring the Earthen Demilitarization Bill to Histan's high court, where it was voted down 14-4. Many radical groups quoted Fillik-the-Observant's Studies of Beyond: "Violence is second nature to an Earth-Human. Their entertainment programs are mostly centered on such matters, usually driving the plot of their stories in their favor. Their sports have two athletes engage in combat, expecting the audience to root for one athlete or the other. The most violent athlete always wins."12
The 196th Infantry Brigade made a public appearance on the 65th of Heln, denouncing the actions of their AWOL squadron, though these efforts hardly curbed the rising anger towards Earth-Humans. The hatred eventually whittled down to those who served under the United States in their Vietnam War, causing a massive buildup of pressure on said servicemen, which would cause them to spark the Nam Revolution on the 74th of Heln, when almost 18,000 Earth-Humans would return the hostility to Yoren natives through deserting their posts and hiding out in the eastern Histan jungles, threatening to fire on anyone who entered their "property," though they made exceptions for the swathes of Earth-Humans following suite, increasing their numbers to around 20,000.13 Histan's military refused to fire on convoys and helicopters mobilizing east to join the Revolution in fear of escalating the pressure further and beginning an armed conflict.
Histan's government responded by deploying 22,000 Nationguards to the border, starting extensive negotiations that slowly turned to threatening a military response. Earth-Humanity responded by moving a handful of infantry and anti-tank divisions to their faux borders. On the 89th of Heln, after ten days of waiting for someone to fire the first spell or round, the Nam Revolutionists would abruptly secede from Histan, forming the Federation of Mankind.
The Federation Revolts
"It's been probably twenty days, and they still won't turn off this damn music. The commanders told us to keep our headphones on and stay indoors, or even in the basements if it's too unbearable, but that shrill, shrill sound continues to echo through the villages. Two guys fired their RPKs into the air to drown out the music. How long will it take to armor landing ships, let alone battleships?"
Journal entry of an Earth-Human recovered from Federation Territory
Once they seceded, the Federation only made one demand: "Leave us alone." The widely accepted interpretation of this is "Do not intervene with our territory and allow us a life of peace," a passive enough demand to reel back to a peace-first approach for Histan to reclaim their land. However, Histan's Nationguards would move from forcing surrender to psychological distress to drive out the Earth-Humans. They set up Sonic Frequency Drivers and played traditional Kaskan melodies, Nalltime holiday music, and Scribe's Top 40 post-hurdy-gurdy grunge in an effort to annoy the Federation to the point of surrender. It was 39 days before the Nationguards came to terms with the Federation's sense of resilience and began mobilizing on their borders, placing Manamissile batteries and self-propelled aquastaffs near various checkpoints, though far enough away to not instigate a conflict at the time. One more demand for surrender was made before the land reclamation plans were finalized; they were entirely unaware of why the Federation was awfully quiet about the Nationguard's attempts to force an aforementioned surrender.
As it turns out, the secession was meant to be a smokescreen for Earth-Humanity's real plan: escaping to Eastern Yoren and beginning "nation-hopping," wherein they would march through West Yoren until they found a nation they could easily seize land from. As the Nationguards were attempting to drive the Earth-Humans out, they were dismantling the Histan Navy's Water Magic Reactive Armor, designed to absorb water-based magic attacks. The Earth-Human ships were also being kept in armored docks, hiding their operations long enough to stall out the Nationguards until they began loading into the ships. As they were preparing to hold down the dock from the inevitable land incursion, a Manamissile battery would fire a salvo at a landing strip containing 40 Earth-Human helicopters, only taking out 18 and killing 47 Earth-Humans, though it was a clear sign that Histan wasn't waiting for surrender any longer.
The Nationguards would find little resistance at the border when they began the land incursion, only seeing a handful of soldiers who stayed behind in watchtowers to buy the Earth-Humans at the docks some time, who were cut down by the immense water pressure of the aquastaffs. Problems arose when they came face to face with the World War Two era medium tanks. They stayed in the forest and ambushed the self-propelled aquastaffs, using shells similar to pre-magic tanks of the Berug Sprout War. The waterwalls14 deployed by the aquastaffs proved futile against the shells, and the tanks would eventually clear them out before relocating to the docks.
The foot soldiers would also adopt this same tactic, staying in the bush until a Nationguard squadron came looking for them and would promptly fire at them, using the vegetation for cover. The only viable counter was to send Nationguards into the forest to pursue the foot soldiers, though they weren't trained to romp through the trees and were otherwise considered "informal warfare" by Histan generals. The other option was to energy-bomb the forests with Manamissiles and flying machines; however, the Earth-Humans would move too quickly to predict their position for the Manamissiles, and flying machines were easily overwhelmed by anti-flying-machine cannons. Aquastaffs attempted to shield the flying machines using waterwalls, though they too were destroyed by fleets of tanks. Eventually, the full might of the Nationguards was sent to break through the Earth-Human blockades, though it was too late; the Earth-Humans had finalized their ships and began ordering a retreat to the docks to load the rest of the Earth-Humans. They had also acquired Histani ferries to transport the rest of their vehicles to Eastern Yoren, which would also carry the retreating Earth-Humans once they fell back to the docks and held off the Nationguards long enough to protect the ships until they all boarded.
The persistence of the Nationguards was proven at the Battle of the Docks, although there wasn't enough mechanized support to cover the infantry from the Earth-Humans. Despite only a few vehicles staying behind to defend the docks, they were effective at clearing the groups of infantry and holding off the aquastaffs when small arms fire failed against the waterwalls. The end of the battle was marked by the anti-flying-machine units being loaded into the ships, giving the Manabombers an opening to begin bombing runs, forcing the remaining Earth-Humans to fall back to the ships and rely on the anti-flying-machine cannons to fend them off as they began their voyage west. This plan would work out in the end, driving away the Manabombers, leaving the Histan Navy to send their battleships to stand toe-to-toe with the Earth-Human fleets. The navy would ultimately fail to halt the hardened destroyers and battleships of the Federation, as the ships had more cannons than the Histan Navy had armor. By the time the Federation had escaped Histan, 612 Earth-Humans and 801 Nationguards were killed.
When the Nationguards were scrutinizing the docks, they found maps detailing a retreat to the Northern Pole, where Histan wouldn't dare intercept them due to the harsh climate. They figured the Federation would die out a week after arrival and prompted Histan not to waste resources sinking the fleet and letting them be, thinking they were embarking on a suicide voyage. The Duke released a statement detailing their voyage, and assured Yoren that they'd hardly be a threat once they reached the pole, although he advised Eastern Yoren to take up arms in case they "took a hard right and duped us all."
The Federation came 120 cims shy of the Northern Pole before turning southeast towards the Confederacy of High Mages. It was there that the might and will of the Federation was first tested as they began the march South to enter a battle of such a large scale not seen since the Sprout War.