The Companions of Saint Leo, The War within the Gulch. (Patreon)

1907 January 17th

Iconoclasm Crusade

The great hall of the Companions of Saint Leo stood still as Jason arrived with irrefutable proof of the return of the vile Mortali knights. Jason knelt and revealed the severed head of a knight, the clear signs of corruption evident on the twisted face beneath the helmet. The Living Council began to bicker amongst themselves; some members wished to ignore the problem—the Ministry would handle it—while others recognized the threat of the Mortali and what it could mean to the Companions if it were ever known that the knights were at one point under their banner.

Councilor Sophia rose from her seat and drew her pen. Standing before Jason and the Mortali head, she raised her hand and proclaimed the vital necessity for a crusade—more than just a holy war; they would invoke the Iconomachy. A crusade whose goal is the complete and total erasure of the Mortali Brotherhood and all that they have corrupted and tainted. She signed the decree; all councilors agreed. Sophia would be the dictator; all Companion forces would be assembled at her command. They would march on the Gulch and wage holy war against the Scions of Satan.

April 28th, 1907 the Companion War Host arrives within the Gulch Western Region.

Sophia looked over the amassed strength of the cohorts that arrived; they were a formidable force, no doubt outnumbering the Mortali knights five to one, and they were not yet at full strength. Commander Herakles had been fighting within the gulch for years against the Rattler hives, holdovers from corporate wars that have remained a nuisance for Atlantropa ever since their creation. He was the first to encounter the Mortali; his lieutenant, Jason, had clashed against a Mortali knight scouting party not long ago. The knights had decimated his soldiers and left Jason for dead. He was saved by Herakles, who had dreamed of a premonition of Jason's death. The knights had left their dead, the head of one serving as proof of their existence for the council.

Herakles was eager to set off east to face the knights, as word had spread that the Caspian family had succeeded in pushing back the Mortali knights. It would appear that the dread Mortali were nothing without their element of surprise. Herakles stated that if things continued this way, by the time the Cohort arrived at the battlefield, the knights would have already been wiped out by the Caspians.