briefing ♔ i will never know myself until i do this on my own

[wynn]

This is War- 30 Seconds to Mars

WHO || Wynn,  Jack, Hasmed, Lis'sa, Dovan, Solace, Koraith, Christos, Tia, Nessa, Grant, Buffy, Myri, Finnick, Spike,  Gar, Archer, Des, Fred Jr., Dumage, Mark, Alainn, Zero, Colin, Lan, Eric, Val'drin, Risa,  Anastacia, Faith O., Max R., Belle, Kadir, Edain, Sydney, Zatanna, Aurelius, Jaina, Erky, Davin,  Riddick, Jordan, Henry, Leia, Willow, Kate, Allison, Francesca, Bo, Han, Aedan, Rocket, Drax, Nathan, Maxwell, Sam, Faith L., Cora, Dimitri, Alanna, Jaime, Klaus, Gus, Andrew, Stiles, Lydia, Gold, Jackson, Adam, Miles, Penelope, David, Derek, Andie, Kali, Cara, Nels, Taradiddle, Abigail, Astrid, Bambi, Frankie, Rose, Helen, Alaric, Alice, Lissa, Alex, Emma F., Cordelia, Zoe,  Sebastian, Malina, Alcide, Phineas, Fiona, Arthur, Faye, Mars, Kate, Lila,  Jameson, Felicity, Thoster, Adi, Brantley, Hook, Emma, Eleven, Alisha, Will, Dean, Grimrot     [Closed]
WHAT || Andres War Briefing
WHERE || Knights HQ, Round Table Room
WHEN || September 19th [forward dated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, please call dibs in the dibs plurk!

On the eve of battle, an impressive array of Knights gathers in the Round Table room of the castle.  The usually cavernous room seems tightly packed with this many bodies, and places at the Table are reserved for Wynn, the Section Heads, all those who have had any hand in the Talisman mission, including New York, and Christos, but who's going to argue with him, really.  The air buzzes with a mixture of impending dread and on some fronts, excitement.  It's hard to deny that there are those in the room who have wanted to make a move on Andres for years.

Wynn waits for the appointed hour, before nodding for the doors to be sealed and calling the meeting to order.  

"Before we begin, I'd like to thank each and every one of you, many who have traveled an extensive distance at a moment's notice to join us here today.  I understand that many of you have little idea what you have agreed to, but I hope that before the end of this meeting, you will come to understand what we are doing, and why it must be done.

Andres' Isle has been held under the sway of the man who calls himself their "Prime Minister" for nearly a decade.  In these ten years, he has turned what was once an idyllic country steeped in tradition into a tightly controlled fascist nation disguised as representative of its people.  

Andres is far from the only country to fall to such a fate over the course of history, and it has never been the prerogative of this Knighthood to enforce our own personal vision of some sort of world order onto any nation.  We are protectors of justice, and our enemy has always been both that which comes from the darkest depths of Shadow, and intolerance and prejudice that stems from this world. 

But Dimitris Sarandis has proven to be an exception, an embodiment of all the ideals we stand against, who has aspired to systematize the kind of violence and hatred that threatens the welfare of countless innocents under his rule.  He has used his position to exploit Shadowkind on the island to the point of conducting torturous experiments on them, designed to help him accomplish his goal of forcibly enslaving non-humans, so that they may serve what he sees as the superior race of homo sapiens.  

As if this were not enough, Dimitris knows of our existence, and wishes to tear down our organization, understanding that we pose a threat to all he seeks to accomplish.  To this end, he has conspired against us, kidnapped members of our organization and subjected them to brutal and vile torture, and attempted to blackmail us through detaining Sir Thomas Bancroft and now Sir Samcelot, into complying with his whims - to leave his regime alone entirely, to turn over our most ancient, powerful artifact, and for me to submit to death at his hand.  

Killing Dimitris alone will not stop the system he has created, and will not help free the people of Andres.  Most citizens of the country remain innocent, terrified into compliance, or completely ignorant of what Sarandis does behind closed doors.  These people deserve our help, and the only way to do so is to show them the evil that lurks at the heart of their government, gain their support in uprooting that evil, and assist them in stabilizing their country thereafter.   

To do this, we will need to go beyond the usual parameters of our missions, with a militant, strategic push into the island designed to seize the castle, and take down Sarandis' rule."   He pauses there, letting that sink in.  "What I will not stand for is a callous attitude towards the innocents who we seek to protect on the Island, during this insurgency.  Their safety will be paramount to our operation, and as such, speed is important to what we will be accomplishing.  Dimitris expects retaliation, but he also underestimates our tactics.  As such, rather than attacking the castle with an army, you will be deployed about the Island in a number of small teams, each with an objective that will help us cut off Dimitris from contact with his supporters, secure Sir Bancroft and Sir Samcelot's safety, free those who are imprisoned, and confront Sarandis, taking the castle in the process.

Details of these individual operations not withstanding, I imagine there are some questions.  I open the floor to you to speak."

Comments

[allaboutme]

[ considering graduation at sunnydale high involved arming the student body against invasion by demonic forces and a giant snake, this whole 'battle' thing didn't sound too overwhelming at first for cordelia chase. but seeing the big round table room chock full of grim faces, discussing political ramifications, and making it sound like half the castle wouldn't be coming back? ok, that might be throwing her vibe a little. especially because she doesn't really feel like she knows anybody here yet, aside from her mentor knight and the familiar faces from sunnydale - which weren't always comforting considering that one was spike, and another was faith. talk about the psycho jackpot. she's pretending to be unaffected as she follows the traffic flow out, but anyone really looking at her can see the glances out of the corner of her eye as she studies everyone else, trying to figure out where she's meant to go, or how she's supposed to get ready for this. ]

[bowtimeandspace]

[ It's hard not to be... well, himself. Especially when he can see people looking unnerved. And he notices her (spot? idk, he rolled a nat 20 so whatever he notices). He steps over towards her, head dipped a little as he looks. ]

All a bit mad this, eh? [ Casual, almost flippant. Because sometimes that helps. ]

[allaboutme]

Please tell me this isn't every other Tuesday around here. I thought Sunnydale was bad.

[bowtimeandspace]

[ He thinks about it. It might not be a real question, but he's definitely going to treat it as one. ]

Maybe every other Friday. [ Which as is universally known to be much much worse ]

[allaboutme]

You know the sales pitch really focused on the glamorous end of this whole Knighthood thing, and downplayed the going to war part.

[bowtimeandspace]

Yes well that'd be salespeople for you. Never trust them as far as you can throw them. Or further, actually, because that's probably not that far.

[ He frowns a little as he looks at her. Because it's all words and bravado, really he knows a thing or two about that. But underneath? Well, things might be a little more raw. ]

Are you okay? You don't have to go, you know.

[allaboutme]

You think I'd be letting them ship me off to Nowhere Island if I didn't want to go? Please.

[bowtimeandspace]

No? Not one to follow the pack then, are you?

[ He raises his brow a bit. He knows how easy it is for people to be swept along. Especially when they're young and somehow think they should be acting so much older than they are. He did that when he was young. Silly old man he was then. ]

[allaboutme]

Are you kidding? The pack follows me. That's how it's always been.

[ a grudging beat ] Or was.

[bowtimeandspace]

[ And there lies the story. ]

What changed? Other than, well, ending up here.

[allaboutme]

A bunch of deadbeat losers, and a town doing the 24/7 Monster Mash?

[bowtimeandspace]

Is that some sort of dessert? The monster mash. Or is it potato based?

[ Yeah, he's bad at this. ]

[allaboutme]

You know, the cheesy song you can't escape at Halloween parties?

[bowtimeandspace]

[ You see this look? This is a look of entire lack of understanding. Oops. ]

No, can't say I do.

[allaboutme]

Don't tell me you're from... Narnia, or whatever. It's like you can't turn around in this place without running into someone who's never seen so much as a George Clooney movie.

[bowtimeandspace]

George Clooney! No- Yes- He's the one with the teeth, isn't he? And the hair. No?

[ Well come on, that's got to be right, hasn't it? ]

[allaboutme]

Understatement, really.

[bowtimeandspace]

Is it? Does he have [ --and he handily demonstrates by sticking his teeth out-- ] more teeth than usual?

[allaboutme]

If you're trying to imply that George Clooney's a vampire, you're way off base, bucko.

[bowtimeandspace]

No but wouldn't that be cool?!

[ As long as it's not vampires of the fish people variety ]

[allaboutme]

Vampires aren't cool, despite what everyone around here seems to think. They certainly don't deserve to go around calling themselves Knights and getting parades thrown for them or whatever.

[bowtimeandspace]

Well everyone deserves a parade. At least once or twice. Maybe just a little one. With ribbons and balloons.

[allaboutme]

Not serial killers. When was the last time you saw a Charles Manson shaped-balloon leading the Macy's Day?

[bowtimeandspace]

Well you never know, give them a parade and they might not be serial killers in the first place. Work wonders, parades.

[ Yeah he really is this mad. ]

[allaboutme]

I wouldn't know. Nobody's ever thought to throw me one.