On October, 7th, so about two weeks ago, the first RPG competition started on the German Travian forum. Players were asked to write a short story about Travian in the style of a role play. To additionally motivate players to take part, the best three stories would be rewarded with vouchers of up to 300 Gold.
The authors were given a full week to let their imagination and creativity run wild and to write a story. During the week, a total of about 50 stories were submitted, many more than the Travian team anticipated. Due to these circumstances, the team had to carry out a pre-selection, which was a very tough call in light of so many great stories.
Eventually the team agreed on a selection of 13 different stories, which were put up in a poll. The players then had five days to vote for their favourite. At times it was a very close head-to-head race between two authors and the poll remained exciting until the very last minute! On October 21st, it finally was time to announce the winner: Syx with the story “The Arrogantia Saga”.
On this occasion, we would like to express our gratitude to all participants. ALL of you have written really awesome stories and created a good few hours of excitement for all the readers!
You can read the winning story “The Arrogantia Saga” by Syx here:
The Arrogantia saga
Once upon a time, in the dark ages of the Third Lands, lived the mighty people of Terosa.Their leaders shepherded their people with a strong, yet loving hand.The noble people of Benala, the closest neighbours of the Terosa kingdom, became friends with them.Both kingdoms entered an alliance, which would send a shock throughout the Third Lands.Very soon after, both kingdoms found themselves with all but enough territory to cater for their constantly growing population.The generals armed their soldiers, knights and amazons, travelled to foreign, unchartered lands and annexed, pillaged and conquered the resilient peoples of the north and extended their kingdom.The superb might of this alliance could simply not be matched.At once, other powers in the south took notice of the events. Just like the northern kingdoms, they also sought to expand their realm and to take down other rulers.An old friendship once again brought these two powerful forces together.The kingdoms of the south, forever bound by their common blood, forged an iron pact with the alliance of the two northern kingdoms, thereby uniting the four in territory and cause.It wasn’t long until the citizens of the four states began to feel uneasy.Scouts announced the sighting of wild creatures and bloodthirsty beasts.Rumours erupted, fearing the return of an ancient power, which set out to enslave the people of the Third Lands.Furthermore, the scouts reported powerful artefacts would be at the disposal of this power, rendering their campaigns invincible.Now all that mattered was to pick up arms and prepare for a battle of inhumane proportions: the cataclysmic campaigns against this power of legend.The generals of the four kingdoms gave their final orders; an emergency council was convened.The armament was complete…The swords had been sharpened, armour polished, the gods invoked, children put to sleep with folk songs and the supplies packed up. The women had been comforted, apart from those, who slipped into armour and left the chef’s apron to their husbands… The NATARS had returned! “They fight with beasts, as tall as the sky!!!”, you could hear them whisper.“Tens of thousands of men strong their army is!”, it was said.“Invincible, invulnerable…”, they believed.But the mighty alliance of the east cast these lies aside!They were ready.Together they stood strong. They would storm the fortresses of the Natars down to the last fighter and fight until annihilation. They would be brave, defending the four kingdoms’ claim to power.And then, the day of the great battle against the Natars had arrived…The morning sun painted the land blood red and rung in this historical day.Blood-soaked fields. Silence, interrupted only by the screams of the injured and the groaning of the dying. Smoke…Fire…ravaged villages…And on the horizon: the victorious forces of the four kingdoms!!!Thanks to the adept planning of the generals and the brave and unflinching fighters, it was easy to penetrate the Natars’ armies, to transport the legendary artefacts back to the local treasuries and to prevent the Natars’ ascension to power once again.It was only due to the foresighted positioning of their defenders, that the queens of the Benela were able to protect their sought-after artefacts and kill off all attempts to steal them from the outset.Soon after the Natars had been defeated, the generals sent out their scouts.They brought news of isolated groupings of troops of agitated princes, seen near the coast, arming and preparing themselves to unite weak princes, pitiful nomads and outlawed vagabonds under one flag.However, this set up was also neither glorious nor able to resist the power of the four for long, despite months of preparation.When, as far as the eyes could reach, no serious swordsman, useful axeman, or a brave youth able to hold a club and get into the way of the unified kingdoms was to be seen anywhere, the kings and generals were gratified.Have they not established peace throughout their kingdom?Wasn’t the following echoed throughout their territory:“No other than the unified kingdoms we have to fear”“Let’s hope we don’t attract the wrath of the four”Wasn’t everything achieved now?Was it not time to be content? NO!!!! Be it due to boredom, malice for the slaves that should build it, or in bad faith of being mentioned in future stories and sagas:Shouts resounded.Mumbles became louder.Even young children had nothing else to talk about.Everywhere, you could hear the opinion, that they had to prove what they were capable of.Only a massive, monstrous and breath-taking example of architecture would be able to live up to that claim.United in this belief, the free citizens of the kingdoms turned to their rulers and voiced their wish full of ardour.The rulers were sceptical at first, consulting each other and listing advantages and drawbacks.There was nothing to change the minds of their citizens.So, eventually the rulers agreed to the plan and got on with the necessary preparations.But this undertaking of arrogance, which was to surpass all buildings and monuments, an object for ridicule and mockery of other princes, dukes and counts, built on the hopes of brave defenders and with mortar made from the blood and sweat of thousands of slaves, was too big a plan.Master builders needed to be found.Architects from all around the globe.Assistants, apprentices and journeymen to facilitate the construction were required.Soon it became clear, not even a mighty kingdom like ours was able to fulfil this task on its own.None of the leaders remained passive, however.They moved out to distant foreign lands and enlisted other kings and queens to join them and to support the construction of this new monument.One knew of mighty barons, from times long forgotten, yet better.Carrier pigeons were sent out and a meeting in a remote place was arranged.They looked cautiously at each other, deliberated on the issue and eventually reached agreement.The barons of the Hold Naru and the counts from Filang joined the cause of the big four.And so, a new empire came into being and an alliance of infinite glory.From this moment onwards, the alliance of the six largest kingdoms in all of the Third Lands of Travian was known as Arrogantia!Yet again, the generals and their powerful armies were sent out to conquer the fabled Mons Veneris.Once more, the Natars suffered a crushing defeat on their own territory.They didn’t have the slightest chance…And so the time came, when construction of the masterpiece could begin.Many craftsmen were required to construct the warehouses and granaries for the supplies needed.About as many farmers and merchants were employed to guarantee the success of this big project, since all the master builders, countless slaves, architects and the mighty army of defenders needed to be fed, while they lent their muscle power, sweat, blood and even their lives to the cause of Arrogantia.Until even day, fatigue has not kicked in.Everyone helped and supported the project with great enthusiasm.However, turning the plans into an actual construction was easier said than done.The master builders were stumped, since no one had ever attempted to build such a great bulwark.They had no experience in the construction of such a building, none of them had ever seen any construction plans and there were no blueprints either.Apart from those of the Natars of course.But they would be impossible to get a hold of, since they were guarded by hoards of the most eerie monsters and their even more perfidious generals.No fortress was more highly defended than the treasure chambers, in which these plans were stored.Penetrating these walls would be impossible…No army has ever been able to reach, let alone break through them…But have they not put a square peg into a round hole before? Should there be a possibility of success after all? Would it be possible to steal a construction plan from the Natars?After weeks of unsuccessful construction attempts by the master builders and with morale of workers, merchants, defenders and generals getting worse with every day that passed, the rulers decided to take a risk and attempt the forlorn undertaking, as it became clear, that the construction was under threat of never being built at all.Once again, it was time to enter battle for glory, power and a mention in the history books of the future. It had to be done, so that the building could be built and that it would stand tall for centuries.The bravest army of all of the known world headed out once more.And while the knights and amazons were underway to steal the secret plan,the farmers and merchants worked relentlessly to ensure full warehouses and granaries…
We couldn’t translate all submitted stories, but if you still like to take a look at the other stories, please check the German Travian Forum.
Best Regards
Moony
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