saderan perspective
Molt Sol Augustus sat on his throne as he listened to the ramblings of the Senate. The discussions or more like shouting matches involved a myriad of subjects. Ranging from the new doctrine the legions were expected to adopt, the recruitment quotas that each region had to follow, and of course the scorched earth policy that was put in effect. Of course there were other things to worry about besides the internal squabbling of the senate. The cartiagians were raising their armies and hiring mercenaries. Either they were planning on pushing out of the western desert and attacking the weaken frontier of the empire. Or building up their defences against what the empire had failed to contain at the gate. Then there were the greacians to the south that were building up their armies and their fleets. So either they were preparing another war with each other or they were hunting to kick the imperial colonies that were there off their island. Yet molt knew the empire would endure he read over the reports from the various encounters from those who came through the gate. They were masters at range but weak when it come to close up combat. So to help elevate the problems molt had sent out an imperial decree to have fletchers craft longbow and crossbows fof the imperial legions. Alongside this he started to conscript many members of the various mage guilds that were dotted around the empire. He knew the guilds would complain but some words about the vengeance of those from the gate should have the guilds affairs enough to walk in lockstep with molt. The enemy was strong there was no doubt about that. The allied kingdoms a thorn on his side, he could send them to the gate to get a better grasp on this new enemy. Of course he would have to deceive them, maybe say he is going to send a legion that will never arrive. If they fail the allied kingdoms are weakened, if they succeed somehow. He still wins. Of course he would have to plan on how to deal with this new threat. So he thought on how to deal with them. Forts would most likely be destroyed at range and mages could help but having so many in forts and not in the legions wouldn't help when field battles were needed. The crossbows and longbow were a stop gap to help the legion they would still need to get up and fight sword to sword. Maybe the mages could put up a fog or a mist to block the enemies vision. But what if they had something to counter that or grew the ability to counter it. If he over used the vision blocking abilities of the mages the enemy would catch on and find a way to counter it. If he pulled all his resources and attacked with the fog as his trump card he could fail and loose everything again. He would have to come up with plans within plans to deal with his foes. Maybe an unconventional war could work like the northern tribes his father fought. Use their terrain and knowledge of the land to their advantage. That could work. He would have to think more on this the empire has always adapted to its foes and won in the end. This was no different than to any near defeats the empire has had before. Finally after some time molt noticed that the senate floor was starting to slowly turn to violence. So to prevent blood spilling he stood up and raised his hand. The floor went silent as he spoke.

Molt: I know many of you are nervous of this new foe we face and the laws tha we have enacted. But this is for the good of the empire, during our most dire times the empire had always made sacrifices so that it may find victory. Yes we lost a large majority of our legions in a single battle but this has happened before. When the cartiagians under the command of Barca marched into our heartland we sent a force of over seventy thousand men to deal with his army. And in a single battle we lost all of them. Yet did we bend the knee. No! We stood strong and raised another army with a better idea of how to defeat barca. In that war we lost many but we pushed them out of our lands and back to their desert. This is just another barca that we shall defeat! We shall stand strong and win this war. For the glory of the empire. SADERAN INVICTA!

the Senators rejuvenated by their emperor words shouted back. SADERAN INVICTA! molt smiled at this, he prevented the senate from devolving into a fist fight and made the senate a bit more aligned towards his goals. As he sat back down on his throne a strange feeling of nostalgia wafted through him. Like a old part of his history had arrived. He didn't know why he suddenly got these feelings. But a very small part of him was worried, he quickly snuffed that feeling out. If something else came he would be ready for it. The empire would persevere like it always has.