Osiris Fraternal Order

But my dreams
They aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
The Who - Behind Blue Eyes A year ago: The Royal Palace in Alexandria.

Nomarch Dreizehn had been pacing for the last hour. He'd been summoned to the palace by Lord Ravenclaw but once he'd arrived he'd been shunted around to a variety of dour faced officers most of which had no idea why he was here. He assumed this meeting was about his recent elevation to Nomarch, given that the Pharaoh had been a long time opponent of House Dreizehn taking it's spot as a full house. Still when he'd been needed he'd given the Pharaoh assistance in the only way Treize knew: an assassination. A few rumors later and Philae was finally under his official rule.

But here he was pacing a small courtyard in the middle of Alexandria, wondering about his fate. Treize hated feeling powerless. He hated feeling exposed even more. There were doors on every side of him and no cover outside of a fountain which had a design that left little to the imagination. Even his steps, in shoes he'd used on more than one occasion to sneak up behind others in their last moments, echoed.

After a few more minutes he heard the raised voice of the Pharaoh nearby. It quickly quieted as the man himself burst through the doors to his north. He looked on as the Pharaoh approached wearing a slight smirk of disdain.

"Ahh Nomarch Dreizehn. A pleasure. I understand you've been taking in the sights?" The Pharaoh stopped just in front of Treize.

Nomarch Dreizehn took a moment to bow slightly, as was his custom. "Yes. I've found your castle quite agreeable," he lied.

"Excellent! Unfortunately we've had a bit of a scheduling mix-up. I'm supposed to meet with the Arch-Ministers today on a matter of vital importance," The Pharaoh gave a slight tilt of his head as if that sufficed as an apology before continuing on, "If you'll take a moment to speak with Mr. Loew here, he can reserve you a spot at the table with the rest of the minor houses for our meeting tomorrow,"

Treize was well practiced in the art of hiding his true feelings. Still, the word "minor" as it left the Pharaoh's mouth left him staggered. The Pharaoh smiled a moment and began to walk towards the door behind Dreizehn. Treize contemplated placing a dagger between the man's shoulder blades, but steeled his rage.

Today: The Dreizehn Stronghold on The Island of Philae.

Nomarch Dreizehn's hands shook as he read the letter from the Ravenclaw. He lay it side by side with a letter from House Somerset, both called him to action against the other. He had to make a choice. Protect the inevitable flood of ships and men coming to Nomarch Ravenclaw's aid, or harrass, blockade and destroy them.

He had to choose between a man who had insulted him and a man who had tried to kill him. At least the decision would be easy.

He wrote a reply to the House Somerset missive, burned the former Pharaoh's letter, and turned his thoughts toward the Council of Generals and Admiralty that he'd already organized for the occasion.

"Looks like I'll get to stab him in the back after all," He said to his empty office.

Maybe I should cry for help
Maybe I should kill myself
Blame it on my A.D.D. baby
Awolnation - Sail "Lords and Ladies. Generals, Admirals," Treize smiled before continuing "This list is quite extensive actually... why don't we skip the formalities and sit down and have ourselves a dinner."

The council was meeting in the main dining room of the Dreizehn stronghold, and the place was decorated well for the occasion. Huge banners with the Dreizehn flag were stretched across the room above the long dinner table, upon which sat a number of steaming dishes. The centerpiece was a boar with an apple in its mouth.

The collected noblemen pledged to his house kept their voice barely above a whisper as they discussed the war that was soon to be. The host spoke with each of his bannermen in turn... doing his best to guarantee their support. Then he sat down at the head of the table again, raised his glass and tapped with a fork. The entire room went deathly silent... save an unfortunately timed bout of gas.

"So. We all know what we're here for. We're going to take our fleet and wage war against Alexandria. We're going to show the whole of Osiris what a minor house can do. But first... we've got a little bit of house cleaning to do" With that Nomach Dreizehn motioned to his guards... who advanced on two nobles sitting across from each other at the table. The one to Treize's left started from his seat, but seemed to think better of running. The other sat still... almost as if he hoped to avoid being seen. The guards guided both men to the head of the table.

"So," Treize continued turning to the man on his left, "Sir Klein has mentioned to me that he would see a huge loss in revenue during a blockade of the port of Alexandria. He says he can't support the war effort as well as he'd like because of that. He's right too. Klein's merchants are on a non-stop loop from Alexandria to here."

Treize turned to his right, "Lord Bastor has told me he is absolutely committed to the cause and that he would do everything in his power to support the war effort," Suddenly a dagger materialized in Treize's hand and just as suddenly was at the Bastor's throat, "Of course the letter that Klein intercepted that was bound for House Ravenclaw said otherwise," Treize looked at the noble lady nearest to him, "This is going to be messy miss, you might wanna turn away,"

A few moments later and the Lord Bastor had more blood on the outside of his body than in. Treize motioned to the collected nobles with the dripping dagger. "If you have an honest problem with this course of action... I'm more than willing to hear you out. But if the solution to your objections is treachery there is only one response available to me. And you've been warned. So I will not be so quick next time,"

Treize turned to Sir Klein and motioned to the dead body at his feet, "You can have his title and lands. I think that should make up for your loss in revenue?"

From the east out to the western shore
Where many men and many more will fall
But no angel flies with me tonight
Though freedom reigns on all
And curse the name for which
We slaved our days
So every man chose Kingdom Come
Flogging Molly - Raise What's Left of the Flag Treize paused his studying intelligence reports in anticipation of the knock on his door. He walked over to the door and opened it just as his guard was lifting his hand to knock. Treize looked at the man to the guard's side, "Sir, no... it's Lord Klein now. Heh. Welcome back. Have you had the time to get Bastor's holdings under control?"

"Yes. I have Lord." Lord Klein wasn't a particularly notable man. Though his propensity for self preservation was well known to the court. He shifted uncomfortably outside of Dreizehn's office, glancing about for listeners.

"Oh right. Come in." Dreizehn walked back over to his desk and sat down.

"Thank you Lord." Lord Klein walked into the room and took a seat next to the desk.

"So, the gathered forces both have requested my aid, in the name of the rightful Pharaoh. I haven't delivered my reply just yet to Ravenclaw but Somerset knows that I'm on his side in this. Word will leak to Ravenclaw sooner or later, but since you control almost all of the merchant shipping to and from Alexandria from the ports, if he finds out before my plans are completed, I'll be very cross."

"Yes Lord." Klein replied shifting in his seat.

"Now it's going to take the better part of a week to get our fleet ready to move into Alexandria Bay, in the mean time we need to slow down evacuation... and we need to prevent supplies from getting to the city. And we have to do it quietly. I've already tasked several of the pirate fleets that were using Philae as a staging base to begin operations to that end. But they've asked we send at least one fleet of our own. I find that to be a reasonable request,"

"My lord," Klein began, "My ships are all pressed into service right now patrolling the coasts for ships headed to Alexandria. Most of them aren't really capable of handling such a request anyway,"

"I know, that's why I'm lending you ships from the fleet. You'll need to go to your own vassals for the archers, swordsment and mages you'll need. But I'm lending you 4 ships and 200 men to man them. The men are expendable. The ships are not," Dreizehn stood up and as he rose picked a paper off the table and handed it to Lord Klein, "This is an intel report from our sources inside the East Pacific. A number of supply ships were already on their way before the war broke out. I want you to find these ship and either take them for House Dreizehn or sink them to the bottom of the sea,"

"Yes My Lord," Klein said taking the report. Something unspoken had passed between them in that moment. Klein was sure of two things, he needed a success in this to maintain his new position, and this meeting was over. He thought better of speaking again as the Nomarch was fully engrossed in the papers in front of him.

Getting caught's half of the trip though, isn't it?
I fall apart with all my heart,
And you could watch from your window.
Lorde - Tennis Court As the ship rocked back and forth, Jeremiah Night reflected on his life. His father was a minor noble loyal to House Dreizehn but his mother was a peasant. He knew he shouldn't complain, having a noble father had opened up many doors to him that might otherwise have been closed, but he'd still needed to take a job as soon as he turned fourteen. Luckily the Merryweather had been hiring out sailors at the time. Under the old Captain Lanard, Jeremiah had learned quickly and well. He'd been working on this ship for the last fifteen years, and made a decent living at it too. But this wasn't the old days anymore.

They had a new merchant captain in charge of the ship. Lord Klein had big ideas but didn't know a damn thing about sailing a warship like the Merryweather. When he'd been told the plan to fly pirate colors and take on merchant ships he thought the newly minted lord was out of his damned mind. But the sailors said a war was coming. Between the Merryweather, the Pharaoh's Tears, the Basilisk and the Oliver, even this captain oughta be able to handle himself out here.

When the first merchant ships came up over the horizon, Jeremiah grabbed his saber and shield. Capture was sure to be the order of the day. Heavily laden merchant ships would bring them all a nice payday even after Dreizehn and the Captain got their cut.

When he heard the order for a broadside he was confused. When the cannons actually fired he was angry. Even with the mages they had on board that was ammunition that needn't have been fired. Thankfully the shots didn't even reach the merchant vessel. Jeremiah rolled his eyes and waited for the ships to come closer.

Several Hours Later:

The stern of the last merchant vessel sank beneath the waves as Jeremiah looked on, slackjawed. They'd filled that ship with more shot than would've been necessary to take a port. The loss of the ships, the men, and the cargo left Jeremiah shaking with rage. The captain obviously had no experience in these matters. He just kept calling for the men to fire, over and over. In their first encounter they'd already used up three quarters of their ammunition. If they ended up facing someone who could defend themselves... they'd be an easier target than the merchants were.

Jeremiah gave a serious thought to mutiny for a moment but he decided against it before returning belowdecks to get something to eat.