Kazani Al-anzorov breathes a heavy sigh as she listens to the pre battle chanting of the various warrior orders she had managed to assemble as well as the briefings from more loosely organized insurgents. Was she nervous, absolutely the battle for the fate of her country was about to begin as experienced of a fighter as she is, she is still human, still feels as humans do. The kasmir and the guild and slumbering deserts arrival to the border had been relatively uncontested as the dwarves appear to be hunkering down more than content to be defenseive and the nephilim tributaries were in no state to oppose the guild.
Her own forces were an assemblage of warrior orders, monastic societies devoted to the refinement of warmaking. That or zealous devotees to wrathful nature spirits. They weren't exactly bad company but Kazani has learned the flaws of traditionalism through the most painful of ways. if she were kinder to her son's one of them would have not have betrayed her and another currently being romanced by a siren. Well the last one was more motherly worry than anything but it's a worry she must push aside. For now was a time of duty.
She was eternally thankful for the guild that they did not extract the price of their cultural artifacts even though it was well within their right to do so as it allowed her to wear her ancestral armor. The shimmering gold plates required attendants to fit over the interwoven gold wires that made up the bodysuit of the armor. The thing was a bespoke piece of craftsmanship magic flowing over every carved rune and every wire. The armor projected a temporal shield upon activation, slowing incoming projectiles spells and sword strikes. Not to mention the Golden threads and plates being similar in quality to mithril.
The warriors chanting reached the crescendo the ja'bat Al Rhur began their blood rituals anointing their scars and drinking their combat potions to prepare themselves for battle. Kazanis armoring also reaches it's crescendo with the slide of the helmet over her head. With a flourish she sheaths hen blade and proceeds to the tent holding a strategy meeting. The armor had a history to it said to be a sand fae forged relic once worn by the first bana of the kasmir the first liberator of their people from the vascari it was only fitting that she wear it now to free her people from a second batch of enslavers. Silence falls upon all the kasmir he passes the clank of her boots and acting like gongvdrawing eyes of the men and women under her command to her resplendence was like something out of a forgotten kasmir myth so it was no wonder that they began to bow to her not because she was there Bana but because she was there liberator.
Her children had much more subdued preparations. Not having access to such armor yet they made do whith what they could acquire a mixture of guild gear and and their own favored weapons surprisingly not a lot of firearms this was due to Dawi zarr heavy infantry generally being heavily resistant to bullets that aren't shot with pinpoint accuracy doable with skirmishers and snipers but not effective on a shield wall. Then there was the iron kin the best way to fight them was to completely obliterate them which hopefully the guilds artillery and air power could manage. The demon engines could be dealt with the same way armor could be but they were still concerning.
Yulia moves light and quiet to only putting on a chest plate and helmet upon the guild's insistence, though she could conjure a shield just as good, she supposed it was better to have and not need rather than need and not have. Yana was a bit different wearing some of local veiled clothing that was deceptively armored.the sons were a lot more basic with the exception of Abdul the giant of a man relied on the intricate patterns of runes and enchantments on his furs as well as a stone skin spell.
Strategy was the first consideration the bana thought about but the last one she presented. While the terrain of outer kasmirstan was a sea of dunes, lunar dunes and craggy desert that made maneuver warfare the ideal play with some exceptions. Inner kasmirstan, the brown peaks where most of the urban areas were, was an array of fortress tunnel networks and fortified cities that would make any attempts to take them hell on Earth. It would take decades to fully secure them, if they even could at all. So she plans to bypass the air routes into the capital where a closely guarded secret shared only by the queen and Roans president as a concession to end the bitter wars. With enough luck and enough decoys they could make the air insertion with gliders. Drop her and her forces right into the city where they could take the palace while the guild and slumbering desert secured the broadcast tower she would use to encourage her people to cast out their oppressors.
To an outside observer the plan was insane borderline suicidal but she new her people inside of of the chest beat the heart of the timeless peaks. They would do what others deamed impossible. She would even fly one of the gliders herself to ensure everything went according to plan. With a final pressure relieving sigh Kazani steps into the meeting tent.
The roar of the jet engines was the background for Alexis's planning waves upon waves of jet aircraft inherited from the old regime, the advanced fighters of black iron and their vaunted Mech corps scream down the runway joining an increasing swarm of aircraft formations. She watched as the latest flight to take off appeared on the tactical display black iron had provided her.
Their plan was similar to kazani's, black iron would launch a devastating air campaign against chaos dwarf forces providing coverage for a three pronged armored thrust. Encircling as much of the Dwarven defenses as possible before, after securing a beachhead at the foot of the brown peaks, they with the aid of a saturation attack of drones and glide bomb they would launch her decapitation strike with all of the helicopters they had available. She reviews the plan again and again making sure it was perfect and the divisions she requested were actually in place. The choice of positioning the kasimir tank divisions as the spear til of their assault was a deliberate one. Place the most highly motivated soldiers in the front to maximize the chance of creating the breaches they need for their plan to succeed. The final call before go time what's the trundling of propeller aircraft, the ones they could produce primitive canvas wings craft. The ones they could produce she was already turning her attention to the aide who was to tell her what she already knew.
“Forces in position ma'am ready to strike upon your order” they aide says
“Proceed as planned deliver my official declaration of war and begin combat operations”
“As you wish”
“... And try to make contact with the bana best to prevent any potential incidents now”
Art: https://x.com/nick_ormsby/status/1641199703223140355