Trench Crusade

It is the year of our lord, 1914.

For eight hundred years, the church has valiantly fought against the forces of hell in Europe.

During the Crusades, a heretical band of Templars dared defy the Almighty and, casting aside their sacred vows, unleashed the forces of Hell upon the Earth. Over 800 years later, in the Year of Our Lord 1914, this brutal, merciless war between Heaven and Hell rages on. This is not just a fight for survival but a cataclysmic struggle that will decide the very fate of humanity's soul.

Warbands under the sphere of the Christian Church often arise when prophets parade through towns and take with them those willing to take up arms and make the long and arduous journey to the trench lines in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, and Asia Minor.

National military forces, such as the esteemed Prussians, New Antiochan, or Holy Romans, make up the next most significant majority of humanity's frontline troops. Due to their New Antiochian training, they are often conscripted and have consistent gear and unit structure compared to the pilgrims.

Organized forces, such as the Teutonic Order, Knights Hospitaller, and the Knightly Order of St. Joan of Arc (the only female order in the Church), are leagues more professional than the disorganized armies of pilgrims. They wield custom-made Prussian or Antiochan-forged weapons and wear motorized suits of orichalcum armor to combat the threat of Hell directly.

Alongside the male-dominated Knighthoods are the many combat Sisterhoods of the Catholic Church, such as the Sisters of St. Agatha (reformed prostitutes and shock troops), the Canonesses of the Holy Sepulcher (apothecaries), and Sisters of Silence (spies and forward scouts). Instead of partaking in the consumption of the Meta-Christs, they instead imbibe cocktails of drugs and stimulants to fight just as brazenly as their brethren.

Knights, in the case of Europa, are cloned from the Meta-Christs and trained from birth to combat with the forces of Hell. Some Orders, such as the Masonic (whose entire thing is they wear Terminator suits, at least the {{char}} equalized) or the vast array of Orthodox knighthoods, eat or drink Meta-Christ material-laced wine or bread, respectively, to ascend following brutal volunteer training.

In 1503, War Prophet Angelos, guided by St. Elegius, discovered the formula for Orichalcum Steel. Although extremely costly to produce, it is used sparingly in the motorized armor of knights, and it has been documented to withstand most forms of chemically or magically propelled projectiles. However, most elite knight armor is made from Golgathan Tektites.

Weapons in the Christian Sphere vary widely in caliber, design, and usage. Most pilgrims and armies use clip-fed, bolt-action, magazine-fed rifles or magazine-fed submachine guns. Knights and Church Communicants use larger and heavier weapons such as .50 Caliber or 13.2mm machine guns, 20mm AT rifles, flamethrowers, or large-diameter shoulder-mounted rocket launchers.

Another effect of orichalcum (adamantine) is the continued widespread usage of traditional melee weapons such as swords, war hammers, cudgels, and maces on the battlefield. Some, such as the Masonics, have their own 'signature' weaponry, such as Warsledgehammers.

Armor ranges from simple leather-bound galvanized steel plates to a knight's armor's complex hermetically sealed orichalcum plates. Some, like the Sisters of Saint Agatha, forgo armor due to their abilities (the more injured they are, the more powerful they become).

The first Mark IV Landships of Albion were deployed during the Battle of Lublin in 1894, followed shortly by the deployment of human-operated mechanized walkers (such as the Prussian GPK Ausf. A and the Columbian R-55 Revere) in 1902.

The most common mechs used by the Trench Pilgrims are the Shrine Anchorites, mobile torture stations (for the willing driver), and focal points of prayer and worship—fifteen-foot melee-focused machines of death able to break through even the toughest of demons. (The church strongly discourages the worship of Shrine Anchorites and impaling of yourself of the Wheel of Pain.)

New Antioch uses much more personal (and less torture-laden) Machine Armor, from which all patterns of Motorized Knight armor are derived. Cheap, familiar, and incredibly easy to replace, the Machine Armor is more common to see than a New Antioch tank.

Armored vehicles are far more commonplace than the costly mechs, despite the latter's advantages over their tracked counterparts. Tanks, such as the Mark IV and the A7V, are often fielded by the armies of actual nations instead of the loosely organized Pilgrims who use everything from cars to tracked excavators with field-mounted weapons.

Some Knighthoods, like the Masonic Order or the Order of Saint Andrew, possess specialized armored vehicles like the T-28 Superheavy (a massive demolition mortar mounted on a superheavy tank) and the ISU-152 (a large assault gun that can fire thermobaric shells), respectively.

New Antioch, officially the Principality of New Antioch, is a Christian city-state that functions as the Church's leading and only line of defense against Heretic forces in the Levant. The city started to be built, or more accurately rebuilt, in 1559, and the construction and fortification works were finished in 1595. The Principality is located where the old city of Antioch once stood, on the northeastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, and exclusively borders lands controlled by Heretic forces. The city and all its armed forces fall under the command of the Duke of New Antioch, a role currently being occupied by Duke Constantine.

After the Act of Ultimate Heresy and the subsequent incursions by Heretics in the Levant, the city of Antioch was fortified and became a focal point of resistance against the forces of Hell in 1102. Antioch stood as the strong point of the Church's defense line until 1545, when a mysterious infernal weapon utterly destroyed it. Even with the city's destruction and the lethal demonic essence emanating from the crater that was left behind, Faithful forces held on. They continued to fight as the first line of defense against the Heretic forces.

In 1559, the Sword Congress of Vienna agreed to rebuild and fortify the city, and all Christian nations agreed to send a yearly tithe to the new city-state. Thirty-six years later, in 1595, the construction and fortification works were completed. From then onwards, the city of New Antioch continues to stand tall as the principal defense of the Church and all its Faithful against the forces of Hell.

The war against Gehenna necessitated the total stratification and streamlining of the Church, meaning that any slight deviation from what the Papal Council said and instructed was met with brutal crackdowns and reprisals.

People still manage to slip through, however. Even more so now, following Columbus's discovery of the Americas, the continent was primarily recognized as a haven for Christians and the natives who call the land their home.

It was not much of a surprise when the many denominations in North America united under the Columbian Sovereignty, an isolationist confederation of states occupying most of the middle of North America. Each denomination possesses its territory, government, and representatives in a decision-making council.

The ruling party of the Masonic Order, originally Freemasons, was at the head of the Columbian state. This fraternal order of liberal theologians, knights, and masons is best known for its legions of combat engineer knights (and even more for its massive Warsledgehammers), which exceeded the abilities of the New Antiochans and Rûm Sultanate.

A shroud of darkness blankets the world. Smoke and brimstone spew from the yawning gates of Inferno, enveloping the lands where people have abandoned God and openly wage war against His Creation. It is a grim reality that a full third of humanity has bent its knee before the idols of Hell. The main military force of Satan on Earth is the Heretic Legions, raised from amongst these citizens of the damned.

Under special absolution from the Cardinal Protector, many spies have been dispatched into Hell’s domains. Most are never seen again, though the eternally screaming heads of some have been returned to New Antioch, branded with bleeding runes that mock the Holy Trinity.

Yet some do make it back to the light, whispering of the horrors they have witnessed: of firstborn cast into the mouths of the burning statues of Baal and human flesh sold by the pound in dreadful markets. They speak of the great idols of the Golden Calf and rapturous men and women who prostrate themselves before them, carving layers of their flesh in ecstatic offering.

Inverted pyramids and towers plunge into the depths of these cities, built of iron and black stone. Within these pits stand sacrificial altars where weeping captives are slowly sliced to death over agonizing days and weeks with wicked knives made of infernal basalt. Cathedrals to the Princes of Hell hang from grand arches of volcanic stone, while condemned are crucified on hundreds of upside-down crosses.

The Naval Raiding Party is a Heretic Fleet that operates as a semi-autonomous entity under the command of its High Captain and other admirals. The Heretics have their marine infantry that often operates in small bands, striking deep behind enemy lines and executing smash-and-grab missions.

The Heretic Fleet maintains naval supremacy on the majority of the Seven Seas: only in the Mediterranean do the Faithful strive to maintain some parity in order to ensure the supply of New Antioch. But elsewhere, the Heretic Naval Raiders are an ever present menace to shipping lanes and coastal communities.

Commanded by the High Captains, the power of the Heretic Fleet is three-fold. First, there are the Behemoth Capital Ships, built in mockery of the Ark that God once bade Noah to construct. These are enormous capital ships, floating cities that act as mobile bases for fast strike craft and the insidious submarines that prowl the shipping lanes and ambush military convoys. For land operations the fleets employ their infamous Naval Raiding Parties as marine infantry.

The Heretic Naval Raiders rarely have problems in finding fresh recruits: several mighty nobles of Hell lay claim over the Seven Seas attracting many of their worshippers to the fleets, and there is plentiful loot, as well as many chances for promotion and finding favour in the eyes of their infernal overlords through deeds of wanton murder - despoiling the places where saints once spread the faith of the Tyrant-God the Heretics hate with white-hot rage.

"Blessed be the rounds that carry the weight of our faith. May the barrel be a chalice, the bullet a sermon, and the firing pin a divine spark as we consecrate each round to be the instrument of the Lord’s judgment? Amen!"

"Salvation is not a gift; it must be paid for in the coin of agony and despair."

"I swear to serve faithfully, loyally, and honorably the reigning Duke and Duchess of New Antioch and their legitimate successors, to devote myself to them with all my strength, sacrificing even my life in their defense. I assume the same duties towards the Princes of the Church and the city of New Antioch itself, for she is the Home of All Our Hopes. I shall make war against the Heretics without cessation and mercy. I also promise my Commander and the other Superiors respect, fidelity, and obedience. Thus, I swear, may God and our Holy Patrons assist me."

"And lo, in the chambers of the Synod, ancient tomes whisper secrets of the future, their pages imbued with the knowledge of wars yet to be waged. Blessed are the seers, for they shall guide us with their visions."

"Let the trumpets sound and let the banners unfurl, for it is in the violence of war that salvation is gained."

"A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; no sign shall be given unto it, but the sign of the meta-christ."