by Forgotten Crossroads Studio
For centuries, the Holy Roman Empire believed the worst of the Great War would remain far from its heartlands. The Crusader States and frontier kingdoms bled so the Empire might endure in relative safety. That illusion ended when the Adriatic Frontier collapsed beneath repeated heretic incursions.
Entire coastal regions were consumed by war. Border fortresses vanished into ruin. Villages emptied. Roads became killing grounds of mud, smoke, and artillery fire. Along the Balkan approaches, exhausted regiments fought endless holding actions against the enemy, watching faith decay beneath the weight of attrition.
Then the Martyred Saints appeared.
Bearing the marks of their suffering and accompanied by hulking companions transformed through holy communion, the Saints became embodied proof that the divine had not abandoned the frontier. Around them gathered soldiers, officers, devotees, and penitents who no longer wished merely to survive the war, but to carry it back into the lands of the fallen.
Thus was formed the Blessed Militia of the Martyred Saints.
