Overview
The Dark Crusade is a community authored Ancient Warfare 3 campaign which started life on the AW3 Weekly Map Competition and ended after four instalments. By popular demand, the Dark Crusade campaign is being restarted, with the story picking up five years from where it left off. The campaign itself functions similar to the AW3 Weekly Map Competition, with the Game Master setting a specific theme or scenario, and then members competing to expand the campaign’s lore by submitting maps. The best of the submissions will then be chosen and become canon within the Dark Crusade lore, dynamically affecting the story progression.
About
The Dark Crusade is a community authored Ancient Warfare 3 campaign which started life on the AW3 Weekly Map Competition and ended after four instalments. By popular demand, the Dark Crusade campaign is being restarted, with the story picking up five years from where it left off. The campaign itself functions similar to the AW3 Weekly Map Competition, with the Game Master setting a specific theme or scenario, and then members competing to expand the campaign’s lore by submitting maps. The best of the submissions will then be chosen and become canon within the Dark Crusade lore, dynamically affecting the story progression.
The Story So Far
It has been five years since the great and terrifying Nakorth’ra, an ancient necromantic being of awesome power, emerged from an eons-long slumber and renewed his bid for world dominion. The unsuspecting Free Peoples of the Free Realms were caught unawares, and their armies and kingdoms fell one by one to the unholy flames of Nakorth’ra’s growing legions of the undead.
Though the Free Realms sent ships to all corners of the globe warning of Nakorth’ra’s return, very few took the warnings seriously, and before long the warnings stopped. However, dark tales emerged from travelling merchants and sellswords who had visited the Free Realms, and these told of a land torn asunder; entire cities reduced to rubble and scorched flesh, of armies of skeletal warriors marching tirelessly in their unending pursuit of the living.
And so our story arrives at the shores of Aedenyearth, a continent south of the Free Realms and inhabited by a patchwork collection of warring kingdoms. Blinded by their hatred of each other, the Kingdoms of Aedenyearth have not heeded the warnings or the dark tales, and now a menaicingly large fleet of unidentified warships have appeared on the continent’s northern coastline.
Nakorth’ra has come to a new land of the living, and death follows with him.
—COMP 1 UPDATE—
Days of blood and misery as Nakorth’ra’s Death Fleet fell upon the unsuspecting kingdoms of Aedenyearth. The hammer blows of this ghastly invasion were as swift as they were devastating – but this black time was not without hope. To the east, the Orc clans of Hwawonguk rallied and brought the fell legions of Nakorth’ra to heel at the Battle of Muriarua – a hard fought victory for the greenskins, and in truth, one they relished but a terrible blood-price was paid… and with more of Nakorth’ra’s warriors landing onto the coast with each passing day, the question would ultimately be one of attrition. Meanwhile, to the north the noble Larialerians repulsed a probing attack on their coastward settlements, driving the undead back into the sea. Led by a mighty War Priest of the name Lionel, this victory was a mere frustration to the Dark Lord and there was no doubt that a full attack would endear a different ending.
And to the west? The full might of Nakorth’ra’s strength fell there, against those gallant Ispharstan Emirs. Pride and courage failed them at the coast, and it failed them again as the skeletal hordes of the damned pressed inland. Emir and warrior fell to the unstoppable advance of the undead, and each army raised to oppose them was repeatedly scattered. It was to be here, in this land of sun-kissed skin and selfless honour that the fate of Aedenyearth was to be decided. Nakorth’ra’s victory in Ispharstan would open a gateway to the rest of the continent.
—COMP 2 UPDATE—
War! War like the Ispharstan Emirs have never seen before! City and castle falls to the unstoppable onslaught of the undead legions and not a single army of the living has stood against them in the open field. Urgent alliances are forged, war councils held – a Sultan rises to the Bronze Throne for the first time in a hundred years – and now the might of Ispharstan has mustered. As hundreds of thousands of men, women and children flee south from the fires raging across the northern coast, tens of thousands of brave and proud Ispharstani warriors march north to confront an apocalyptic enemy. Numbers are not on their side, and indeed neither is hope. Alone, the Emirs of Ispharstan cannot hope to prevail against the unfolding catastrophe… and yet they are Men of Ispharstan, heirs to the Bronze Sun of a Thousand Skies, noble by blood and divine birth. What are they to do? Flee? No… never that…
Three vast armies have taken to the field under the command of the Sultan-Elect, the Emir of Boluma and the Emir of Komacari but they are hopelessly outnumbered. Careful in their movements, they have each decided to give battle at three strategic cities that lay in the path of Nakorth’ra’s advance. Victory will buy them time, but it will not win the war. Defeat will lead to the rapid collapse of Ispharstan, and darkness will seep into every corner of Aedenyearth.
—COMP 2 UPDATE—
Disaster befell the noble sons of Ispharstan, one after another. At the Battle of Solusayra, The Emir of Boluma was utterly routed from the field by the superior numbers of Legio Blackfire. The Sultan-Elect, though possessing the full sum of his strength, bled his force against the legions of Nakorth’ra at Kushak to little avail – he was eventually forced into full retreat, and fled to the capital of Kanak. Meanwhile the Emir of Komacari found himself ambushed, encircled and slain along with the entirety of his army outside the gates of Bamur.
In the aftermath of these catastrophic defeats, the legions of Nakorth’ra pushed their advantage and laid waste to every castle, city, town and village in their path culminating in the Siege of Oshehir and the Storming of Komacari.
At Oshehir, the defenders held on for a full week before Legio Nakran breached their outer defences and fired the city. A last ditch effort by the Emir of Beskelen stopped them from pushing further west, at a great and unsustainable cost.
Meanwhile, hope beamed bright at Komacari as a wily merchant rallied the defenceless population to stave off a direct assault by Legio Chimera. Using his vast riches to purchase weapons with which to arm the city’s people, and supplementing their ranks with Rochian sellswords, he inflicted a humiliating defeat on Nakorth’ra’s forces and brought their eastward advance to a grinding halt.
And so for a brief time there is a lull as the legions of Nakorth’ra’s invasion force reorganise themselves, raise fresh dead from their recent victims and muster for another hammer blow.
—COMP 3 UPDATE—
The situation in Isparstan has entered a final critical stage. The Legions of Nakorth’ra have forced their way onto the coast, destroyed all major resistance, obliterated every population hub they’ve come across and now their ranks have swelled. Victory by force of arms is no longer and achievable aspiration for the noble sons of Isparstan; they do not have the numbers, and their soldiers are deserting in droves before the spread if this impossible darkness.
The Sultan-Elect still rules from Karak, and to his banners he calls all true sons of Isparstan for his final stand in the west of the country. In the east, self-appointed Governor Robart Addeler is investing all of his wealth in the name of self-preservation. Already the former merchant has acquired a signifiant army to his cause, and as his coin continues to spread across Aedenyearth, so too does the number of sellswords willing to sign themselves up.
Elsewhere, other countries are looking on in abstract terror. Monumental preparations are underway across the realms of Aedenyearth as full military mobilisations begin to take place in all cultures and all civilisations – but the process is slow, centuries of infighting and petty politics has crippled their sense of urgency.
But perhaps the Sultan-Elect can buy them all time; his people are doomed, but maybe by the grace of the Bronze Sun of a Thousand Skies he can save the rest. Suddenly the ancient conflicts between Isparstan and her neighbours seem so trivial and pointless; a sad lesson learned by a man powerless to make good the wisdom.
Current Competition
The Dark Crusade Turn Three: The Fall of Isparstan
Running From: 31/07/19
Submission Close Date: 3 Submissions + 24 hours
The Story So Far: The situation in Isparstan has entered a final critical stage. The Legions of Nakorth’ra have forced their way onto the coast, destroyed all major resistance, obliterated every population hub they’ve come across and now their ranks have swelled. Victory by force of arms is no longer and achievable aspiration for the noble sons of Isparstan; they do not have the numbers, and their soldiers are deserting in droves before the spread if this impossible darkness.
The Sultan-Elect still rules from Karak, and to his banners he calls all true sons of Isparstan for his final stand in the west of the country. In the east, self-appointed Governor Robart Addeler is investing all of his wealth in the name of self-preservation. Already the former merchant has acquired a significant army to his cause, and as his coin continues to spread across Aedenyearth, so too does the number of sellswords willing to sign themselves up.
Elsewhere, other countries are looking on in abstract terror. Monumental preparations are underway across the realms of Aedenyearth as full military mobilisations begin to take place in all cultures and all civilisations – but the process is slow, centuries of infighting and petty politics has crippled their sense of urgency.
But perhaps the Sultan-Elect can buy them all time; his people are doomed, but maybe by the grace of the Bronze Sun of a Thousand Skies he can save the rest. Suddenly the ancient conflicts between Isparstan and her neighbours seem so trivial and pointless; a sad lesson learned by a man powerless to make good the wisdom.
Competition Scenario: Isparstan is doomed, this will be the nation’s final chapter. Your map must feature a scenario in which the forces of Nakorth’ra and Isparstan clash. Can be any setting, can be a full battle or a skirmish, a sneaky sneak mission or D&D style one-man army adventure. Go nuts.
Reward: The winner decides what country we visit next.
F.A.Q
How do I submit a map?
Look at the current competition section of this guide for the competition. Make a map based on the scenario presented, upload it and then paste a link to it on the Dark Crusade Steam thread.
Or you can also paste in the appropriate channel in our Discord server.
Discord: [link]
Steam Thread: [link]
I have questions, who can I speak to and how?
Add me on Steam, or ask them in the Dark Crusade Steam thread. We also have an active Discord.
Discord: [link]
Steam Thread: [link]
How do I know when the current competition ends?
Three maps must be submitted by three different people as a minimum. Once this is done, a 24 hour count down timer starts from the time of the third submission. A notification will be issued, along with a link to the count down timer on the Dark Crusade Steam thread. After the 24 hours ends, no more submissions will be allowed.
There is no upper limit to submissions. If six people submit maps after the 24 hour count down has started, those six maps go through to the judging phase – giving nine maps to be judged total in this example.
