March 18 – A (Ridiculous) Royal Proposal

Mar 18 sally-crab-iguana-galapagos_89335_990x742

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Prince’s Proposal 32-6
Issued on the 10th of Galap in our heavenly year 987
For the Parliament’s consideration
On Cavalry Advancement

For twenty years, we have marched across the face of the world as conquerors.

At first, the towns of the Fat Plains cowered when we thundered in from the East. Huts burned, people scattered, and we gained endless fields of grain. We took the Fat Plains, for we were strong.

Our charge did not stop, and soon the kingdoms of the Scattered Plateaus shuddered at our very name. When we came to their walls, we met resistance so paltry as to be almost indistinguishable from acceptance. The walls fell, the people submitted, and our territory doubled. We took the Scattered Plateaus, for we were mighty.

And now we seek the next great prize. The Coastal Empire has owned the oceans for centuries. We must not stop our momentum, and we must not waste every precious moment we have with The Glorious King at the head of our unbeatable forces. We must take the Coastal Empire, and become masters of both land and sea.

The Lizard Cavalry is the envy of armies the world over. Just this year, we have received emissaries from the four corners of the world. The Religious States from the lands that were once the Only Empire have come to marvel at the perfection their gods have yet to achieve. People of the Lake Nations have sailed clear around the world and wept for joy when they discovered that their holy reptiles, small things in their part of the world and no bigger than a pet dog, are for us towering steeds and the heart of our great war machine.

We face a new enemy in the Coastal Empire. Naval prowess must be ours, and they have it in spades. It is a formidable opponent, one with experience around the world thanks to its speedy and reliable fleet. Our Lizard Cavalry cannot be matched on the land, and so they will attempt to repel us from what they imagine is the safety of the sea.

Let us transform that false sense of safety into their doom.

Attached here is the proposal set forth by me, the Second Prince, and the generals of our glorious military forces. It is broken into 4 parts. The first three each cover a separate armament upgrade, and the fourth covers the strategy the commanders will execute in the siege of the Empire’s great seaside forts.

I highlight here the key component to the proposal. Our Cavalry is built for land, and it will require some modification to provide victory against a waterborne opponent. The far southern coast, in lands uncontrolled by the Coastal Empire or, truly, by any one organized people, are home to great crabs. These beasts are tenacious, capable of living in and out of water and defending themselves from predators with a pair of lightning-quick claws mounted on the front of their oval torsos.

These great crabs can, and should, be harvested, trained, and bred in rapid succession to join our forces as support for the Lizard Cavalry. What enemy, Empire or otherwise, could imagine its own victory in the face of our Riders storming their ships aboard an enormous lizard and supported by an armored, fierce crab. Swords bounce off their carapaces, arrows fling helplessly from the armor in those rare occasions the shifty creatures cannot dodge the flights. They are sidekicks of the highest order, they are resources our enemies do not have, and we must secure their use for our purposes without delay.

Approve this proposal with haste, and I will ride beside the Glorious King at the end of the next thaw with the greatest collection of military might yet seen on the face of this world. We will take the Coastal Empire, we will learn to sail and we will make the whole world our majestic courtyard, for we are inevitable.

Signed and submitted by His Superiority, the Second Prince

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