Beginnings

Benjamin was walking down Permont square, heading towards the new fruit vendor. Fruit was pretty rare in Mercia; all of their fields being used to grow grains and rear cattle. All other food had to be imported, making it expensive. Unfortunately, Benjamin had just been laid off from the post office, budget cuts and all. He only had a few silvers on him, and his 5 gold in savings at home, but he didn't really care at this point. He approached the vendor and bought an apple, tossing it in the air and catching it before taking a bite. Having wasted 2 silvers on it, he slowly savored it on the way back to his house, getting ready to pack and sell what he could, there was no way he could afford the rent now. He finally started contemplating exactly what he could do now, he didn't really have any skills other than being quick on his feet, which wasn't really useful anywhere but the post office. He got back to the house and realized the only things he could sell was his furniture, which he did promptly through the pawn broker on the corner, netting him 1 gold and 3 silver. He figured this amount to be pretty good, considering he only earned 1 gold every two months at the post office. Putting the few sets of clothes that he owned in his backpack and tossing most everything else into the building dump, he retrieved his father's service revolver from the mantle. It was a beautifully engraved Mercian model No.9; his father had received it as a retirement gift. He set off down the street, wandering aimlessly, listening to the random pedestrians as he passed. After about an hour he saw a press gang, the name given the roaming recruiters that had suddenly popped up all around Mercia about a month ago. Most people avoided them like the plague, but Benjamin figured he had nowhere else to go, he might as well hear them out. They soon noticed him and approached swiftly, the lead recruiter greeting him "Pardon young man, would you happen to know be interested in serving your great nation?". Benjamin hesitated a moment before answering, "I don't know, I've never really considered it". "Well, it's a wonderful opportunity, 3 meals a day, a roof over your head, and current rifleman pay is 1 gold a month. With the upsizing of our forces there will be plenty of opportunity for promotion" the recruiter responded. Benjamin considered for a moment before answering with a question, "what exactly would I be doing?". The recruiters face brightened a bit as he said "A standard rifleman won't be doing much other than mustering and training considering we're at peace. It's pretty much a free paycheck for now". Benjamin figured that there really wasn't anything else he could do right now, and it sounded pretty good, so he agreed. The recruiter gave him the office address and Benjamin went on his way.

4 hours and many stacks of paperwork later, Benjamin was officially Rifleman Recruit Lehr. They gathered him together with the other recruits and got them on a carriage towards Training facility North. The ride took them almost 20 hours, only having stopped to allow the horses to rest. Benjamin was still going over the details of his contract when he finally saw what he could only call a tent city. He only saw one real building among the vast expanse of tents, it was three stories and mostly concrete, standing like a monument. At that point they heard the officer in charge start explaining what would happen now, "When you step off the carriage you will immediately split into two groups, rifleman on the right, technicals on the left. You will then be picked up by an assigned officer and guided to unit assignment, a guide from your assigned unit will then take you to your units designated area. Details beyond this point will be given by your unit commander". Benjamin made sure to memorize everything that was said and strictly follow the instructions. 30 minutes later, Benjamin had been assigned to Unit 505, and found himself standing before the unit commander, Lieutenant Strieber. The lieutenant sized him up before speaking, "Unit 505 is simple, follow orders and never be late, keep your hair trimmed, or the helmets will tear it out, I don't care about facial hair, and keep your uniform starched". The lieutenant handed him a weeks' worth of uniforms and handed him off to a corporal. After they left the commanders tent, the corporal greeted him, "Howdy, I'm corporal hiker, you can just call me hiker, what's your name?". "I'm lehr, anything I really need to pay attention to here?" Benjamin answered. "Not really", said Hiker, "just do what you're told and don't fall behind".

After being shown his tent and cot, Benjamin was taken to the armory. The Armorer was an older man, his hair had already begun graying, and his face showed the test of time. His uniform displayed his name: Kanic. Kanic looked up and grumbled at the appearance of yet another recruit, marking out another set of gear. "One Geerlin Model No.3 standard issue rifle, one equipment harness, 50 rounds of .35 caliber rifle ammunition, two Fireblast canisters, one canteen, two bracers, two pauldrons, set of greaves, one set armored boots, one chestplate, and one helmet. You'll need to sign under each item to confirm you've gottem. Lost or damaged items WILL be taken out of your paycheck. Do you understand what has been said recruit?" Kanic barked off rapidly. "Yes sir" answered Benjamin as he began collecting his gear and making sure to sign for all of it. Benjamin quickly made his way back to his unit, as he arrived, he saw the lieutenant come out of the command tent and start shouting "UNIT 505, MUSTER IN FORMATION, IN FRONT OF COMMAND TENT, YOU LOT HAVE 30 SECONDS. MOVE!!". Benjamin was glad he had taken the time to get all of his equipment locked into his harness as he started sprinting to get into formation. Luckily, everyone managed to get there in time, all neat and in formation. The lieutenant came in front of them and spoke "All new recruits, step forward, those who have passed initial training, step back. Reform formation.". All of 505 gave a unanimous answer "YES SIR". After about 15 seconds of shuffling around, all of the new recruits were at the front of the formation, where the lieutenant began addressing them "Recruit muster time is 0500, you will be right here, in full kit, that means armor, rifle, and everything else, at 0500. Not 0530, not 0515, not 0505, you will be ready, here, at 0500. Is that understood recruits?". "YES SIR" they shouted immediately. The lieutenant nodded and kept speaking " From 0515 to 0600 is chow, from 0615 to 0800 is physical training. From 0815 to 1200 is class, where you will learn how to navigate, how to read rank, how to operate the squad mana transceiver, proper military communications and parlance, as well as proper maintenance of your equipment. From 1230 to 1430 is the firing range, from 1445 to 1530 is CQB training, and from 1545 to 1930 is squad and platoon tactics and maneuvering. 2000 is chow, don't worry, you will be fed near the end of class. This will be your schedule for the next 3 months, have you understood all of the information I have given you recruits?". A resounding "YES SIR" came from the recruits as they were dismissed back to their cots. Benjamin felt that this whole ordeal would be quite exhausting, but he also felt excited, he didn't know wat the future had in store for him, but he was determined to make something of it. He kept thinking about how his future might play out as he finally drifted off to sleep.

3 months later, Benjamin was standing in formation with the rest of the recruits from 505, there were 20 of them, all nervous and anxious. They had finally passed all of their courses and training standards, all that was left was the final exam. 48 hours of either attacking or defending certain objectives, pitted against other recruits from different units. The armorers came out and started issuing the training rifles, these rifles were made through the cooperation of the mage's guild and the artificers guild. They activated a stun spell that would paralyze the target if they hit and had to be recharged with a mana stone after every 5 shots. They were issued 10 mana stones each along with their armor. At that point, they proceeded to the magic circle outside the training camp before using it to teleport to the exam grounds. The Base Commander stood on a podium and began addressing them, "Over the next 48 hours, you all be facing against 5 teams of defenders, and 1 rogue element, Rogue element to be staffed by Forward Unit 226. You will be attempting to capture objective set Alpha consisting of Broman Hill and Kiera River, whilst avoiding the rogue element, and eliminating at least 50% of the defending Units. Rogue element will be unaware of your objective set, their only objective is to eliminate your unit. Your unit will lose if all members are eliminated, or you fail to complete your objective within 48 hours. That is all, Godspeed."