Imperial year 2496

  Dear Duke Mallobaude

  I hope that you and your family are well and that your Dukedom fairs well! The last wagon train bringing the lighting oil, naphtha and other distillates arrived safely and the payment of course is travelling with this letter.

  The weapons you asked for are included as well as the artisans who will instruct your own in the maintenance and manufacture of more like themselves. Though be aware to be frank that your own versions may be inferior to my models, 300 of which are included in your payment.

  The armour piecing ammunition plans are also included and the rate you mentioned in your last letter in return for the materials is acceptable.

  I applaud your continued cleaning/draining of the marshes and I am glad that the mages i sent to you have enabled another portion of your lands to be made safe for decent folk again!! The help you have received from my Tilean friends is also good news! I also hear from other friends of mine that they have advanced your works to such a degree that large scale agriculture and beef ranches have brought you and your knight's great profit and your peasants a good living!

  The newly wealthy merchants of your fair city Mousillon are making waves in the rest of your fair country i hear!! They are blamed for forcing many whalers out of business as they buy your oils in favour of their products!!

  If i was one of those stout fellows i would not walk the night in any of your port cities and proclaim my origins without care for my safety!!

  I hope to hear from you soon and hear more good news

  Your friend Holden

  Dear Engineer

  My family is well and my sons are growing faster every day! I am afraid that there was an accident at the Rock Oil fields last week that killed twenty men and spread a sheet of fire over the ground for over a league that consumed all in its path the fire burned for two days until several of the mages you sent to me were able to magically extinguish the flames. The harsh smoke blew over the city a few times and caused many maladies among poor and rich alike!!

  However the wealth that this 'Rock oil' brings allowed me to give pensions to the widows. In fact the wives and children left widowed already mostly worked in the Rock Oil fields in some capacity already so they will be well provided or my honour will be besmirched!

  The plans and the payment for my products are well received and will allow me to expand my infantry regiments and fully rearm my knights! This will allow them to fight this new kind of war you teach me through your writings and the instructors you so willingly send me. This will also help me and my fellow believers in fighting back at the canker that eats at the world and the society around us!!

  The clearing of the foul waters that once surrounded my lands is a sacred task, how bitter those words sound on my lips at times my friend! The new life that has been breathed into the countryside I swear is amazing it seems vital more alive, even in winter it looks like a healthy land instead of the cursed place it once was!

  Of course I now have a reputation as a sorcerer rather than a necromancer and officials from the king's court have gone as far as visiting here to check for corruption! Of course i have treated them with respect and shown them around, i suspect that they were sent by interests jealous of my new found wealth and influence due the gold that your help has made available to me now!

  Yes i thank you for the help that you have sent from the south they have moved on in the main now to other dukedoms with marshes and wetlands that could be drained to increase farming land, something even my stubborn fellow knight can understand, a rise in agricultural incomes of up to 20%!!!

  The merchants grub about for material wealth as they are wont to do in any times my altruistic engineer! However they give my war machine the sinews to resist the darkness and make this place a safe place to raise children and a sword against the darkness!

  You're Brother in thought

  Duke Mallobaude

  letters between the Duke and the engineer 2502

  also with attached maps and artwork from the imbedded minstrels and artists, part of the quartermasters core, propaganda section

  Dear Holden

  There have been several disturbing developments in the Forest of Arden in the north of my lands, foul Beastmen have always infested those woods and we the knights of fair Bretonia have always risen to the challenge of pushing them back! In these fell times i think that more needs to be done my friend. So i have formulated and started my great plan to purge my lands and the former lands of Mousillion to the north loosely held by the Dukes of Lyonesse of taint. At the same time as performing this task i mean to strip the land of this forest and tame the land to the hand of man leaving order and honest toil in the place of chaos rotted flesh intent on nothing but befoulment of the land!

  The main thrust came from the recently remodelled and updated Castle Rouchard now more military city than lonely outpost. Four regiments of handgunners, two batteries of 15 pounder cannons, three of organ guns, three of longbow men, one of armoured halberdiers and three groups of knights Errant along with my own command group of veteran knights.

  We travelled north towards the forest through the newly drained and tamed swamps and former ruined, haunted villages and half empty towns.

  Our progress was slow as sometimes the combat engineer corps were constructing the roads and improving the waterways so the quartermasters wagons could keep up with us.

  The first major battle came with the warherd of the bull Gor Rehzna Shreddfang, they had been the source of many of the raids that plagued this area and slaughtered my loyal subjects with mercy on a regular basis. The majority of this herd worshipped Khorne the bloody handed god, so it is to be hoped we could lure them into the sight of our guns and the fine Hammers you have provided for me to use on my foes!

  They numbered three thousand strong assembled at the edge of the forest the roared their defiance against us. They counted two giants among their number and there were two groups of chaos trolls lurking somewhat more in the shade of the forest dark trailing edge. The main force was a mass of various types of beast from the merely grotesque to the truly disturbing massive creatures with huge black iron weapons no doubt enchanted with their foul magic's. The leader Rehzna stood at the head of the main herd partially armed in what looked armour stripped from a chaos knight. He was much larger than even a magically enhanced human they hung on parts of his body, along with his many grisly trophies and totems.

  As they postured our cannon set up and the engineers completed basic breastworks for the cannon, organ guns and the hand gunners. After only an hour the first cannonade slammed out over the gently sloped grassland that led up to the edge of the forest. Two of the shots went wide and only killed trees, felling several of the ancient giants and splintering several more into pieces with the explosive shells. The other three found more profitable targets one by pure chance rather than design hit the giant in the belly! The shell penetrated and exploded insides its belly blowing open the ribcage and sending the creature falling back into a cushion of smaller trees in the broken areas near the main forest. This foul thing was now dead and gone from the world, leaked blood and thick ropes of intestines onto the grass below. Those of the beasts that these viscera fell onto seemed to go mad and charged forward chopping down their fellows in their frenzied haste to close with us.

  The organ guns were tested on these dangerous mad beasts chopping them down with ease! The multiple hits from canister sized musket balls stopped even these most determined of magically enhanced monsters.

  The other two impacted in the centre of the herd sending the freakishly large beastmen flying in pieces through the air bawling with their bestial grunts of pain. Or they were forever silenced by the shrapnel and blast of our artilleries impact.

  The main host would not wait any longer and they all charged towards us before we could send too much metal down range into them before they could get to grips with us hand to hand! However with your help our weapons were quite capable of sending one more cannonade of shell and two of canister into them. Atthe same time as the cannon finally spoke the hangunners and the longbow men let loose a cloud of gunpowder smoke and a black hail of arrows temporally blotting out the sun.

  Even as this hit the charging monsters the archers and handgunners poured on another volley then another. Then the halberdiers stepped through their ranks ready to receive the much reduced charge of the main van of the Beastmen's evil bloodthirsty army.

  Their razor sharp blades cleaved the swine aprt even as the hangunner fired like a ticking clock every few seconds and the archers launched their arrows over all our head to fall upon the rear ranks of the foe!

  The chaos trolls were about to fall on our flank before the knights errant were released charging with more rage than sense on them, hacking and slashing with their swords and waving maces on wrist straps smiting the unholy monsters like flies swarming a steaming corpse. After a time though many of the knights had fallen, most of the remaining trolls though still able to fight fled the field back into the eaves of the forest with the enraged knights in pursuit! A few minutes later the survivors of the main horde also broke and ran, their leader hed fell early in the battle being caught in the path of two cannon firing canister will kill most of anything and turned the gigantic Beastman into paste! The clearing up and the hunting down of the survivors of the main herd took some more days. Then we brought forward the peasent levies and the engineer's regiment and started the process of road building and the construction of armed camps, supply dumps and the nucleolus of farming villages.

  This is making several of the border Barons and knights in Old Mousilion look at me with fear and maybe a little bit of envy! This land will be purified ready to face the tests yet to come!

  Your brother in Arms

  Duke Mallobaude

  Dear Duke

  I am glad that you have triumphed in repelling and driving back the dark from your forests, we too in the Empire and ever besieged by the beasts from the woods! Not only do they attack decent folk they like all their dark kind invite in more dangerous beings that will cause more trouble than the mere beasts!

  With the latest shipment of goods is a new weapon system for you to use in any further campaigns against the animals or any other who assaults you. It is a portable mortar that can fire either explosive or incendiary bombs with a range less than the artillery you are using at the moment but can fire at the enemy from out of the line of sight.

  The latest production figures you have shared have convinced me to gather investors to improve the port facilities of your fair city and the transportation of naphtha to the coastal refineries that i am now in a position to jointly fund as outlined in your last development plan that you attached to your last letter to me.

  The cold weather rice varieties that we imported from Cathay are now available in enough quantity to distribute from the trial farms in Tilea to you for your farming Co-op's to plant on a commercial scale. So i look forward to hearing the results of the next harvest!

  The silk industry we discussed as another investment prospect will take more proof than some letters between you and me my friend!

  I will send some inspection teams to look at these Mulberry plantations you speak of, with these special insects also imported from the fareast!

  I will send one of my key masters to negotiate the final investment company with the allocation of shares and rights etc

  Your friend Holden

  letter between the Duke and the Engineer spring-summer 2503

  Dear Supreme Engineer

  A title I am loath to bestow upon you, but now seems suitable! The 'Mortar' you provided helped me finish my project of pushing back the bests from the portion of the Forest of Arden that lies within my remit. The incendiary rounds burned the twisted dark trees and roasted their foul furry skin, it was most pleasing how they writhed and screamed! The explosive rounds ripped them limb from limb and scattered their brains, what little of them there was around the shattered stumps of their evil home.

  The logistics of supplying the guns with ammunition in such constrained terrain was the only constraint on the power this gives my forces. The muleskinners though peasants to a man provide good service, their mules fare less well! We need constant resupply of these beasts so your latest gift of steam tractors will allow me to free up larger numbers of them to service the front lines! The knight errant's that still flock to my banner despite my dark reputation look down on these tools as dishonorable, but they have no problem calling down their fire on 'foes not worthy of their cold steel' as one sprig of a knight tried telling me last week during a seek and destroy mission in the foothills of the Grey Mountains.

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  The engineers are extending the road network behind us and establishing fortified way stations, with wooden stockades, deep ditches and deep bunkers. The methods established around Mousilion City are proving fruitful raising the road beds above the high water level, facing the surfaces with good grey mountain granite. This Links them into the system of dykes, waterpumps, sluices and canals that are extending over large parts of my Dukedom. Removing the foul waters and replacing with clean fresh waters more suitable to mass agriculture.

  The Forested regions now denuded by our axes or fire are being either plowed or left to turn to grazing land. Though no one would leave the high wooden palisades of the fortified points at night during the day the foe has slunk away from our steel and our spirit! The prices for cut, seasoned lumber agreed in our last missives is still acceptable and I look forward to the next delivery of 'tooling' which you have promised in return.

  There have been changes in the countryside of my fair Dukedom deeper than just infrastructure, in the past this place was seen as cursed. The people mix more now, mutation is dealt with more often, the Empire wizards help dispel the evil magic that hangs around this place. The 'curse' that the 'Lady' has not deigned to remove even though it is well within her power is now lifting through the will of its human inhabitants not some vague promise of eternal life and honor. Though the common folk still cling to the outmoded belief that she will answer their prayers, I am encouraging the priests of Sigmar that you have commended to me in you previous letters to preach in Mousillion city and the surrounding towns and villages at first.

  The building program you and your friends have invested in around my fair city is progressing well; the docks and boatyard are fully functional finally! They are busy night and day lit by the new gas lamps fed by the waste gas released from the rock oil fields. There are steam cranes and strong backs alike moving produce from ship to shore on the fine dwarf iron piers. The canal boats produced there moving cargo on the water network might look shabby with the damp of the climate but like their human tenders work around the clock, transporting both people and goods.

  The new distillery complex for Rock Oil is now half built and is already doubling the production of the most profitable factions of the product. The main difficulty is procuring enough piping and retorts to enable the site to expand to its planned dimensions. We are now powering half the oil lamps in Bretonia and Tilea with our product, supplied via the steam powered barges and tugs produced with your engineer's assistance. I hear from my savants that more of the common folk than ever before can now afford to work into the night so being able to even more improve their lot!

  The influx of workers formerly working in the failing whale oil industry from the northern cities is increasing and it is a good thing too or the whole enterprise would lack the skilled hands to produce anything, at least so the reports from my spies and factotums tell me. The production of various other compounds that truly I don't understand is progressing well I am told, though I am sure that you know more of these things then I! so that the range of bulk chemicals that I can provide has increased again this month! Please see the attached listings and costing reports.

  The Rice seed that you sent us is prospering and all the signs are that the harvest will be large enough to justify encouraging more production in the peasant villages where such infrastructure is practical to setup further. Such as year round clean water supplies and fertile soil. The new equipment you have sent for trials is working well especially the multi-purpose steam thresher and straw baler! The new steel ploughs and axe heads alone are worth their weight in gold! The few Dwarf made runic heads designed to cleave chaos tainted wood are worth their weight in diamonds!!

  One other thing of note to bring up is that a group of questing knights and an attached group of Empire wizards have discovered the tomb of the evil vampire Duke Merovech! The marble edifice was hidden under a great layer of Swampmat that was enchanted to appear like its surroundings. Other than it remained under the fetid waters untouched by age or blemish!! The tale of its cleansing deserves a saga all of its own from what I have been told! A long one, that led to a number of dead knights and engineers I am afraid to say. But it did result in the cleansing of that foul place with magic fire, explosives and the sword. This published incident has raised more questions with some of nobles and knights as to why I have no Grail Damsels serving me! If they only knew the truth old friend they would not believe it and if they did they would seek to destroy me as a heretic or some such, no doubt egged on by that Elven Bitch hiding in the woods with the beasts! For the moment I hold the writs of loyalty and unblemished purity that have been provided to me in the past by the 'holy' authorities of this land as armor against these accusations and hope for the best

  The inspectors sent by your agents have looked at the plantations of mulberry and have decided that though capable of local production it is not suitable for large scale industry! I disagree most strongly and I had them thrown out from my Keep and my hospitality! I am moving forward with my plan and the first packages of 'worms' are on the way to me as I write this letter! I am cancelling the contract for the silk mill machinery and I will be instructuing my artisans to construct our own home grown machinery for the purpose!!

  From Duke Mallobaude

  Dear Duke

  I am sorry to hear of your anger over the rejection of a joint investment in silk; however I am cheered to see that you are taking my advice to heart in regards to building a home grown industrial complex! The greater your industry the better chance you have of standing when the hordes of night fall upon and rise up from below! I look forward to seeing the result of your artisans labor, anything which reduces the price of silk will be thanked in prayer by all the husbands of the old world! The inspectors will be investigated for their discourtesy and they had no authority to make such decisions! They will be punished severely if they are proved to be deeply in error my friend I promise you! The substance of their thinking is essentially right I feel as far as investment decisions go, Don't despair the new boatyard company and the agricultural Ducal Bonds will more than make up for the lack!

  The news of the destruction of any place that harbors evil magic is to be commended especially when it contains the relics of such an evil character from your adopted land! I wonder myself what other mysteries are contained in the deep swamps and bogs of your Dukedom! There are the constant incursions of the undead both directed and random but that is what the sword, gun, magic and the holy relics of Sigmar are for! The problem I hear is less now that more of their evil masters have nowhere to hide! The practice of constructing oil fired communal crematoriums in the larger towns and Mousilion city at least reduces the numbers of new bodies for their foul arts to re-animate! This measure above all others should earn you renowned beyond your lifetime! Alas your peers value other things more than common sense.

  The Rice harvest in Tilea in similar conditions was sizable; yours should be much higher due to less pollution of ground water (so requiring less water filtration) and soil due to warpstone contamination than Tilea along with cheaper labor costs. But only results over several years will prove whether it will be a good long term prospect for your people. The Hilly ground and in the north of your territory is worth a mention as there are new breeds of sheep bred for poor grazing available from Stirland and Averland that you might be interested in introducing. This could help with spare capacity in you new mills if silk production is lacking?

  The movement of workers enabled by the lowering of transport costs is changing the face of the Empire. For example accents normally only heard in merchant quarters are now common in the factory districts of many southern cities. People move from the north in greater numbers now as the cost becomes lower and the jobs in the south become more plentiful as time goes. Their places on many tenant farms and whole villages are being taken by Kislevites! They flee from the darkness too, what will the world come to as this shrinking of the logical world of order takes place?

  I think that another issue of shares in the Rock Oil distillery sold on the exchanges and in the coffee houses of the capital, Nulun and Marnienburg is needed. This would enable us in return to purchase more shares in our equipment suppliers in Alchemical supplies Inc in Altdorph, they are already the biggest but with more capital they can open a larger foundry and casting complex. Then they can expand deliveries of the most essential equipment to you aiding in timely project completion. This comes with the side effect of lowering the price of this equipment to the explorers of chemistry Empire wide!

  I have heard of the docks completion and how this has allowed the goods of Southern Bretonia to be more easily be transported to the north! There is more scope for improvements, the Dwarfs of Barak Varr are willing to invest in more space to facilitate their trading with the Empire, So I will direct their Investors to direct their correspondence to you in this matter. I feel this will allow the economy to expand and bind your nation together in some ways more than before, Unity is the best policy! Especially so as the fine Anthracite coal of the Grey mountains now reaching you in larger quantities making re-coaling there attractive to them.

  Isolation of people in small communities is never good for the mind or the body, I grew up in such a place when I was very young and I well understand the tyranny of the small people and the harsh lash of the unfair lords and masters! By mixing things up and rooting out the darkness in your body politic you help make ready for the dark times to come! There are some Witch Hunters who I help from time to time who are interested in visiting you to help fight to remaining darkness if that is acceptable to you?

  There is always a market for well seasoned oak timber in the markets of Marienburg or Nulun my friend! The specialist lumber ships that your shipwrights have designed are especially welcome. When they arrive in Mareinburg docks I am told their sterns open up and the cranes lift out massive spars, masts and whole trees ready to be sawn into planks onto the docks. All ready to be taken away on their small scale dock 'railway' to waiting river and canal barges. The other impedimenta of ships construction is also unloaded, iron cannon balls from your foundries carried as ballast and iron fittings etc. The life blood of waterborne trade both riverine and blue water is flowing my friend!

  I can promise another delivery of three steam wagons from the new works being operated by the Dwarfs at Karak Azamar in the northern Grey Mountains by the end of the year and possibly a few hundred more mules could be provide to assist with your purification of the Forest of Arden area. The progress in purification is most heartening and your praises are being sung in many temples to Sigmar, so be satisfied with that at least!

  You are welcome for the new weapon and I hope to bring you more tools against the dark sooner rather than later, so await this space as they say!

  Your friend Engineer Holden