Tyranny of Steel

Within the borders of the Kingdom of Portugal, there was a unit of Austrian Jaegers embedded deep behind enemy lines. While the peace accords between the Austro-Granadan alliance were underway in the Duchy of Aquitaine, the orders the Austrian soldiers had received were quite simple.

Hold the line at any cost! With this in mind, General Adelbrand had issued a decree to utilize specialized units such as the Jaeger Regiment and the Grenadier Guards to advance into Portugal and disrupt their operations via sabotage and outright raiding.

The company of nearly a hundred Jaegers was gazing through their binoculars at the sight of the Portuguese village, which had been supplying the enemy with the grain needed to sustain their ranks. However, the scene that the Jaeger ’s witnessed when they entered the vicinity of the village was out of their expectations.

With the treasury raided by corrupt officials fleeing the Kingdom, and the marshal nowhere in sight, the Portuguese Military had fallen to a state of complete and total chaos. The only regions with any semblance of a lawful order were the cities, where what remained of the Portuguese Army that had not outright deserted contained the last vestige of civilization within the borders of the Kingdom of Portugal.

The soldiers of the Portuguese Army had deserted en masse over the past few weeks; those who remained within the borders of the Kingdom had begun to act as brigands forcing the local villagers to give up their supplies and wealth under the guise of protection.

As for the Local Lords, they were abandoning the Kingdom and heading towards Castile or Morrocco with whatever wealth they could carry with them—leaving their territory in a state of lawlessness, where Brigands ruled and might be right.

At the moment, a Warband of roughly two hundred and fifty men at arms, led by a single knight, was basking within the village. Here, at the end of days, they were kings in their own right. Capable of doing whatever, and whoever they wanted.