27

Chapter 27 Railroad

Less then a thousand Unsullied returned. Worse they reported that the sea floor hosted an entire city instead of just an ocean monument. They had destroyed one and damaged another, but there was at least one more they had seen.

They had only retreated once they had started running out of potions. Given the numbers they had faced I was impressed any of them had survived at all. Apparently they had scavenged additional potions from their fallen. Resourceful and exactly the kind of initiative that I want.

Despite their 'failure' I consider the expedition successful. The enemy was damaged, I gained valuable information and best of all I now have more veterans. I restored all of them and placed them in charge of my newest military branch.

Marines were to be my naval troops. They would serve as guards on ships, be capable of aquatic assault and of course, serve as my first line of defense against Deep Ones. Best of all I have the perfect branch of magic for them.

Initially I had wanted to use the same tattoos I used for the shamans. Maybe even have them be a single extended organization. Turns out that wasn't possible. The creatures made through shadowbinding all react badly towards water. Not only can they not pass through it, even touching it damages them. Worse all forms of water count. Which makes me wonder if there's a connection to the Wall being made from ice?

Nature magic of course didn't have this problem. And since they were marines, it was logical too go with water. Water magic was something I had been studying with the children of the forest for some time now. Ever since I heard about the Hammer of Water ritual I had wanted to learn it. I had been progressing slowly though. My powers hadn't given my a shortcut although I could feel it was possible. It was like something was missing.

Recently I found it. Some of expeditions for information had been the ruined cities of the lost Rhoynar empire. The fragments of information hadn't amounted to anything at the time although they hinted at things that sounded fascinating. When my spies had found that some of the Rhoynar survived I had them start looking for them.

They ended up in Dorne of all places. Better yet they survived and had managed to keep much of their history and lore intact. Calling themselves the Orphans of the Greenblood River, they lived their entire lives on small barges.

It didn't take much to get them to agree to join my empire. The offer of supplies and the restoration of a few of their cities was more than enough. They were more than happy to share the information they had preserved in exchange.

Their scrolls had provided me what I needed. The structure was a moonwell, Basically a large cauldron or shallow pool made from prismarine and diamond. It was the structure I needed to access water magic. The name actually made me wonder if the moonsingers from the Jogos Nhai might have already known about this branch of magic.

The rituals, like pretty much every other type of magic, could be individually inscribed as intricate glowing tattoos. The tattoos glowed a soft aquamarine, the same color as prismarine blocks. Surprisingly the rituals didn't just deal with water. They covered poisons, diseases and flesh crafting. I guess I now know where Valyria had learned it.

The spells I tattoo on my marines were much more straightforward. They allowed them to wield water. It drained energy, but not at a fixed rate. The amount of water, the distance from the wielder and how much water all factored in. Since my marines were going to be operating very close or even within water it was perfect for them.

Techniques to armor themselves, enhance cutting edges or extend them and a variety of other techniques were all tattooed onto them. As fitting for a fluid based magic system the rituals were very flexible. I borrowed heavily from what I remembered from anime such as Avatar and Naruto for ideas.

With the new branch set up and organized I needed a place for them to train. The facility I set up was where Braavos used to be located. The enclosed bay there was plenty deep enough and quickly set up a mock up of an ocean monument based off the information my marines gave me. Partly because of the monument and partly because the word doesn't seem to exist at all I name the rebuilt city Oceanus.

Assembling it was a chore and much more involved than I thought it would be. Sliding walls, traps door and just traps were everywhere. It was clear to me just how much I had avoided by deciding to mine through the ceiling. The Unsullied hadn't had that option had made their way through the hard way.

It was very good training though. Not only did I set up two false ocean monuments, complete with appropriate spawners, I built several other training areas. Things such as beach defenses and fortified docks. My empire was still primarily a sea power. If possible I wanted at least half my sailors to eventually undergo at least some training here.

The former Unsullied were already hard at work, training themselves and testing the facilities. They were almost fanatical to prove themselves worthy of being founding members of my marines.

I also built elaborate defenses around the area. Instead of trees being used as camouflage and a wind break I had an enormous wall, bristling with siege weapons. The defenses went both ways. I had no intention of allowing anything from the spawners to escape and cause me problems later on.

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As much as I disliked it, I was forced to largely abandon my projects. Since my empire was so spread out the military had all it could handle trying to defend it all. I could make quick attacks, but no extended campaigns. So I was forced to go myself.

I supposed I was lucky there were so few new volunteers needing tattoos. Practically everyone not already enlisted are too vital to the running of their households to spare. Which meant I could use all the eggs being generated on myself.

Not that I really needed more vexes. I could already summon close to three thousand of them. Still more of them couldn't hurt. If nothing else it'd make fights shorter. Of course I didn't have enough eggs to raise it instantly, so I was forced to make frequent trips back.

At least traveling didn't take too long since I was using my quadcopter. A few hundred at a time I steadily increased how many vexes I could summon. I figure eventually I'll be able to blanket the entire sky by myself.

I was more of a force of nature than an army. I'd swoop in, summon vexes and wait for them to kill everything. Sometimes I'd take pot shots just to relieve the boredom. Then off to the next location.

It was so very boring. I hated it. This is why I had armies!

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As I conduct my raids I note that the blazes have a mixed effect. Because they're essentially mindless they just to wander aimlessly. They do tend to stay near the towers they spawn at and keep manticoremen well clear of them. The towers aren't nearly plentiful enough to really stop them though. They're just thinning their numbers. At most they're managed to slow down the swarm.

It was during one of my flights that I had an epiphany. The sheer tedium of it all had my mind furiously brainstorming for any way I can get out of what I was doing. Sure it would all make an epic ballad in the future, but a few dramatic fights more than covered that.

Not that there are many bards currently in existence. It seems with the constant threats patriotism has swept my empire and any position that seems too frivolous and doesn't contribute to the war effort is looked down upon.

My epiphany is that there is a source of manpower available. More importantly it was available now. That part is infinitely more valuable than any number of future Unsullied. Looks like I'm heading back to Slaver's Bay.

I take all of my marines along with plenty of automatic wagons. I wanted to make sure I can bring back everyone who wants to come. Above us were a half dozen zeppelins equipped only with several water generators. I brought a few hundred samurai as well. All of whom had been former slaves. I wanted plenty of motivation for my troops and they'll make a much better impression when I take each city.

Meereen was easy enough. I marched right up to the gate and waited. The zeppelins poured an endless stream of water onto the walls, washing away any guards. My marines started activating their tattoos and several swam through the water to go over the walls.

Once inside the water turned the try dusty ground into mud where it didn't outright flood. My men had no trouble with it and easily defeated any soldiers they came across. Not that there were many. Questioning revealed most had been sent to Astrapor to be turned into Unsullied.

I wasted no time freeing every slave there and giving them the choice of joining me. Many didn't believe me when I described how the world had changed, but the majority still joined.

That was the end of my trip though. I thought I had prepared. I had vastly underestimated how many slaves were in Meereen. A hundred thousand slaves. It was an impossible amount. I had transportation for a fifth of that.

Still, I wasn't about to leave any of them. I had been complaining about lack of manpower before. There was no way I was turning anyone away now.

I fly back to Sarnor to organize help. There was no way I was going to wait the months it would take for them to walk anywhere. I had entire rooms full of crates, each full of stockpiled supplies. I had been drawing from it quite a bit recently, but I have the feeling I may end up emptying it for this.

I come up with several ideas but the one I settle on was to build a train. A large factor was that I was going to have to do this two more times. I really don't want to be forced to deal with this problem more than once.

The train is easy enough. Lay two sets of minecraft rails side by side and I have my tracks. A cart is easy enough to into a platform car with four sets of wheels and still small enough to give me a recipe. I considered a steam engine, but after testing settled on the same powered track engine I used in my quadcopter. It was just so much more efficient for it's size.

I then joined several of my platforms to form the box cars I remember from my past. It meant I had to be careful when laying the tracks to only gradually turn, but it was worth it. The sight amazed my people though, how insisted on calling it an iron wyrm. Then I had to lay more than one set of tracks since I was building a transport loop.

I built a station in the former city of Sarnath. Power rails helped immensely in getting started or slowing down but were too valuable too use everywhere. The gold alone would tempt too many. So a fortified hub and engines. A city is much easier to guard then hundreds of kilometers worth of track.

I fully intended to turn it into a railroad hub. thought it would be ironic to have my iron wyrms all travel to and from what the Dothraki had named the city of worms.

The sarnori were ecstatic at what I was doing and transferred there in droves to help out. While the rest of my people didn't have the same history, they still appreciated what I was doing against Slaver's Bay and the Dothraki. Neither were popular. Not that I blame them.

I really don't like the Dothraki. Even now, with their capital destroyed and their clans shattered, they're causing me problems. The vast majority of the bandits are Dothraki. They don't even try to join. The very few who do don't integrate and quickly end up executed.

Slowly, a few hundred at a time my iron wyrms shipped everyone north. As I built more iron wyrms to travel the loop the rate sped up considerably. I was incredibly grateful for my wheat farms since I was passing out literally tons of bread to keep them all fed.

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One thing I did notice when laying down the railroad tracks was manticoremen. There weren't many, but the fact that there were any meant they were still spreading rapidly. I had really hoped my efforts had slowed that down more.

If I'm ever to be safe from them I'm going to need to keep them contained until I can destroy them all. It'd be pointless to wipe them out here only to face another swarm in a few years coming from the far east. I'm just lucky the Dothraki sea is so empty right now or I have no doubt they would have overrun the entire area already.

In the end I poison the land. It feels a bit wrong to spread ghost grass everywhere. The softly glowing reed looks beautiful, but it's poisonous to absolutely everything. Even other plants can't grow nearby. Between that and the Red Wastes any manticoremen that try to go further will hopefully starve to death.

Hopefully the Lhazareen and Ghiscari people survive, but I doubt it. Not really my problem though. I have no doubt the Lhazareen will get eaten. They're entire culture turns them into pacifists, which sounds suicidal to me. I'm honestly surprised they're even still around.

They might be willing to join, but I'm not willing to take them. What good is taking them in if I'm getting any more soldiers out of it? I don't need more things to protect when my empire is already in danger. And as for Ghiscar, they practices slavery. If I do go there it'll be to crush them and free their slaves.

Of course I didn't just build one railroad.

As soon as the first iron wyrm delivered it's load of passengers I was flooded with requests to build more. I understood the appeal but wasn't about to just give up control of it anytime soon. The iron wyrms were going to be strictly reserved for military use until the manticoremen threat had been dealt with.

Towards that end I had bullied nearly a third of the slaves I'd freed into volunteering for military service. I now have more people in training than exists in my military. I only hope enough of them pass.

It seems my aquatic problems will continue for now. Very few of the former slaves wanted to be marines. Even with being freed by them most of them seemed nervous around water. At least my new Rhoynari seem eager to join that branch.

I do extend a few new rail lines, but they're all set to travel near the defensive line. I did extend one to both Oceanus and Mardosh as they were two of my largest military areas. The line to Oceanus I ended up extending a touch to pass through the ruins of Norvos. While Daenerys had wiped the people out, the city itself was mostly intact.

I even thought about setting up my samurai training facilities there. I wanted them to have a city of their own. In the end I wanted them to have a much more isolated and secure area to call their own. I'll likely end up using Norvos as another railroad hub eventually.

I place it on the island of Ib. While I planned on leaving it largely to the giants I can't afford that luxury anymore. The facilities are rapidly expanding since I can't seem to find a way to move my End portal or even build a second one. Then they're done they'll likely span much of the island if only for the variety in terrain.

While the facilities will likely take years to finish they recruits are still very busy. Clearing out any remaining golems and ibbish serves both as training and gives them valuable experience. The giants are also all being rounded up by them to be shipped over to Lorath and then to the End.

Ever since I started my operation to harvest dragons in the End one of the byproducts has been a massive amount of endstone. Without any other instructions my golems had been busy storing all of it. I hadn't found it out until I emptied most of the stores building zeppelins and didn't have any idea of what to do with it until now.

I was expanding. The endstone was being used to rapidly fill in the small sea currently surrounding the central island. Given just how much I had stored, by the time I used it all up I'll probably have an island that can match Ib in size.

Strategic placement of pillars of magma and glowstone keeps my new land from being too inhospitable. I'm not just letting the giants loose though. I really need skulls quickly so I have housing and facilities being erected for all of them.

Between the abundance of food and my own experiments I fully intend for there to be a massive population explosion. I've divided the giants into groups so I can test my ideas out. I have to be very careful since I know it's very easy to render them unusable for golem creation.