Operation Sunder - Freedom by Fire
With a silent decree, the end of Gallows Town was set in motion. Three leaders united to burn not just the city, but the trade itself. Their rally carried through those in bondage like a spark through tinder: 'Feu et Libre' - Freedom by Fire.
- Operation Start - Midnight, July 21, 2125
- Theater - Ruins of St. Louis, 'Gallows Town'
- Objective - Liberate the enslaved population.
- Allied Forces - L’Armistice du Nord, El Neuvo Legado, The Comanche
- Enemy Forces - Cártel del Cadalso, The Beauregard Confederation, The Continental Consortium
- Operation Status - Coalition forces in position, awaiting signal.
Coalition Forces
Nord Tank Commander
Health
(3) Wounds (3) Will (3) Wane
Traits
Strength 2 Intellect 3 Resonate 1
Endurance 2 Memory 2 Sigil 2
Dexterity 2 Charisma 3 Flux 1
Skills
Combat 2 Mobility 2 Tech 2
Loadout -
(+3 WB / -3 AB) Standard Issue (2 DV / 2 AV)
(3) Wounds (3) Will (3) Wane
(+3 WB / -3 AB) Standard Issue (2 DV / 2 AV)
Providing the bulk of the logistical operations, the Nords are also sending their seasoned field commanders with a compliment of armored support for the battle. Having faced the infamous Yukon Dynasty in the north, they are more than confident dealing with this finite force confined in their open-air fortress. Playing one of these officers means a combined role of fighting from your tank and making decisions that change the face of the battlefield for everyone.
Nuevo Legado Line Infantry
Health
(3) Wounds (3) Will (3) Wane
Traits
Strength 3 Intellect 2 Resonate 2
Endurance 3 Memory 2 Sigil 1
Dexterity 2 Charisma 2 Flux 1
Skills
Combat 3 Mobility 3
Loadout -
(+3 WB / -3 AB) Standard Issue (2 DV / 2 AV)
(3) Wounds (3) Will (3) Wane
(+3 WB / -3 AB) Standard Issue (2 DV / 2 AV)
Eager to deal with this thorn in their side, El Nuevo Legado have committed a battalion of soldiers to do the majority of the ground fighting. Although a peaceful nation looking to stabilize the region, many volunteered with a personal vendetta to settle in this fight. Some go to save those in bondage; others go for the experience of shooting a slaver. Playing one of these soldiers will put you front and center to the action, often fully exposed to the enemy.
Comanche Forward Scout
Health
(3) Wounds (3) Will (3) Wane
Traits
Strength 2 Intellect 2 Resonate 2
Endurance 2 Memory 3 Sigil 1
Dexterity 3 Charisma 2 Flux 1
Skills
Combat 2 Mobility 2 Insight 2
Loadout -
(+3 WB / -3 AB) Standard Issue (2 DV / 2 AV)
(3) Wounds (3) Will (3) Wane
(+3 WB / -3 AB) Standard Issue (2 DV / 2 AV)
Having fought for their rights to simply exist for centuries, the Comanche have no intention of tolerating the return of slavery. They have sent their forward scouts to provide crucial intel, as well as infiltrate Gallows Town to not only arm the civilians, but create internal chaos during the attack. Playing one of these specialists means engaging in a tense game of cat and mouse with the enemy, supporting your allies while keeping yourself alive behind enemy lines.
Cinematic Introduction
The tank crawled through the marsh with canvas and reed netting lashed over its flanks, a slow, patient animal on the hunt. Emile Roche crouched inside the hatch, stubble shadowing his jaw, eyes narrowing at the faint outline of Gallows Town ahead. His fingers drummed against the worn rubber of his FN P90 - an old habit when nerves ran thin.
Gallows wasn’t chaos; it was a system. Pens and auction blocks laid out like blueprints across the cracked bones of St. Louis. The Gateway Arch still loomed on the skyline, its steel ribs dull and pitted, once a monument to progress, now an advertisement for ownership. The Cártel del Cadalso dominated the city’s center. The Beauregards managed diplomacy with Sunport and their own territories, while the Continental Consortium moved goods and bodies alike behind a veil of contracts.
The Nords built the strike around precision. Every unit had a defined role - anything less risked friendly fire and the coalition’s fragile trust. Everyone needed this win.
Mateo’s men, El Nuevo Legado, were the sound and the hammer. Their job: make the market look like the only front worth defending. Breach the west wall, draw the main guard companies out, and shield the armor as it advanced. Breachers worked in pairs, bolt-cutters and bang-charges in canvas packs. Pipe-built flamers rattled in converted grain trucks, improvised tanks wrapped in scavenged steel. Mortar crews had their arcs set on the watchtowers and checkpoints with their timing painstakingly synced with the assault.
Emile’s crews were the pressure. Tanks and APCs held position in the drainage line, hulls painted in mud and swamp brush. Their objectives were clean: neutralize vehicle response, clear the river approach, and seize the eastern yards before a counterattack could form. Engineers advanced ahead of the armor, rags wrapped around their boots to feel for pressure plates. When they found one, they’d ease it out with a flat screwdriver, greasy fingers marked in oily rainbows.
The Comanche moved like rumor. Small teams had slipped through the sentry lines days before. Their work was simple but dangerous: sabotage, shepherding, and signal. They cached weapons in hollow walls, cut the CCTV feeds, and wired the main relay to blow six minutes past midnight. They gave the civilians a phrase to hold onto - Feu et libre - a rallying cry and password in one breath.
Timing was everything.
Phase One was silence stretched to the edge of breaking. Comanche scouts crawled drainage conduits; Legado mortar teams set fuses under the hum of a broken generator. Nord crews checked bearings and spoke only in call signs. Evac teams waited in the dark, stretchers folded like flags.
At exactly 00:00, a single mortar fired - short, sharp, a test shot to anyone listening. Legado breachers answered with a chain of charges along the west wall. The night swallowed the sound, then spat it back as dust and broken concrete. Men in patched jackets and red scarves pushed through the breach in disciplined waves, flamers lighting the storage yards in sheets of orange and white.
That was the signal. The world narrowed to two points - the breach, and the culvert lines where the Nords waited, engines ticking under tarp and shadow. Comanche snipers took aim from their concealment, their green-lit scopes cutting through smoke and floodlight haze.
A radio cracked on Emile’s shoulder. Mateo’s voice came through steady, unhurried: "Operation Sunder is green lit. Repeat, green lit. All troops, advance.”
Oppositional Forces
Cartel Enforcer
Health
(3) Wounds (3) Will (3) Wane
Traits
Strength 3 Intellect 2 Resonate 1
Endurance 3 Memory 2 Sigil 2
Dexterity 2 Charisma 2 Flux 1
Skills
Combat 2 Mobility 2 Tech 2
Loadout -
(+3 WB / -3 AB) Standard Issue (2 DV / 2 AV)
(3) Wounds (3) Will (3) Wane
(+3 WB / -3 AB) Standard Issue (2 DV / 2 AV)
The muscle and core leadership of the occupation. Drawn from rival cartels who buried their grudges long enough to build this stronghold, their wealth buys them heavy toys; anti-tank guns, shoulder-fired rockets, and enough stockpiled munitions to turn the marshes into a killing field if given time to deploy. They fight as much with presence as with gunpowder. Gold chains glint where helmets should be, bare heads shining under floodlights - a statement that their name and reputation are usually all the armor they need.
Mercenary Grunts
Health
(3) Wounds (3) Will (3) Wane
Traits
Strength 3 Intellect 2 Resonate 2
Endurance 3 Memory 2 Sigil 1
Dexterity 2 Charisma 2 Flux 1
Skills
Combat 3 Mobility 3
Loadout -
(+3 WB / -3 AB) Standard Issue (2 DV / 2 AV)
(3) Wounds (3) Will (3) Wane
(+3 WB / -3 AB) Standard Issue (2 DV / 2 AV)
Hired guns in name only, these mercenaries serve as the Consortium’s disposable backbone. Most are Sunport rejects, soldiers exiled for debts or disgrace. Their pay cycles straight back into Consortium coffers through controlled vices and comfort houses, leaving them bound by addiction more than loyalty. The Comanche exploited this weakness, smuggling sidearms into the pleasure district under the guise of trade goods. When the fighting started, the women there already knew which way to point their guns.
Cajun Hunter
Health
(3) Wounds (3) Will (3) Wane
Traits
Strength 2 Intellect 2 Resonate 2
Endurance 2 Memory 3 Sigil 1
Dexterity 3 Charisma 2 Flux 1
Skills
Combat 2 Mobility 2 Insight 2
Loadout -
(+3 WB / -3 AB) Standard Issue (2 DV / 2 AV)
(3) Wounds (3) Will (3) Wane
(+3 WB / -3 AB) Standard Issue (2 DV / 2 AV)
Veteran trackers and sharpshooters from the drowned lowlands of Mississippi, the Beauregard hunters know mud, silence, and patience better than any army. They were the first to catch wind of the Comanche infiltration, but instead of raising the alarm they warned their kin. Slipping into the tree line ahead of the Legado advance, they have created a deadly ambush. Trading their gilded uniforms for mud and moss, they now stalk the coalition’s flanks, rifles wrapped in burlap, waiting motionless for the perfect shot.
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