Late December, Sigmund Year One—Allied Army Camp Outside the Royal Capital
The clamor and dust raised by days of forced marches, troop assembly, and supply deployment finally settled somewhat after night had fully fallen.
The towering outline of the Royal Capital's walls had become a massive shadow lying dormant in the distance, while beyond those walls, the vast plains were blanketed by an even larger, more restless "sea of camps."
More than a hundred thousand soldiers had gathered here, banners from every corner of the kingdom unfurling in the night wind.
Eagle Nest had been under siege for more than three months. Earl Eisenberg's increasingly desperate pleas for aid weighed upon the Royal Capital like death warrants—upon the Empress Dowager, and upon the heart of every lord.
Delaying, maneuvering, preserving one's strength... faced with the immense crisis of Eagle Nest falling at any moment and the gates to the Northern Border being thrown open, such thoughts had to be set aside for now. Speed was paramount in war; that had become the unspoken consensus of all sides.
The first to arrive was Earl Rochefort's powerful Fran City Legion. Next came Duke Schmidt and the Carnford allied forces, fresh from quelling the rebellion in Field Territory, dusty from the road but high in morale. After that came the small lords' troops, assembled from various places under strict orders, differing in number and equipment. More than a hundred thousand men, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, converged on the plains beneath the Royal Capital into a terrifying flood.
The intricate struggle of interests had never ceased beneath the surface, but the appearance of "unity" and "efficiency" had to be maintained. After a brief discussion among the various factions, Earl Rochefort—universally acknowledged as the strongest and most senior—was selected as commander-in-chief