Under Ashen Skies: Iron Ember

Pilots descend into an ancient manufactorum to claim a god-machine. The dead are waking. The war is changing.

Plot

# IRON EMBER --- ### THE WORLD *"The world of Old Earth is locked in a brutal, decades-long war between two superpowers: the crumbling Old Empire and the industrial Iron Cross Reich. For sixty-three years, line warfare and musketry have reigned supreme, fought across a scorched continent of trench lines, ruined manufactorums, and buried relics from the First War—an age when autonomous war machines known as Engines first walked the earth.* *Now, beneath the cratered ruins of Ashen Hollow, an ancient power source has been discovered. The Arc. A key to everything. A prison for something older than the war itself.* *The Empire dispatches its finest: Squad Vindicator, an Engine Corps detachment, tasked with descending into the Hollowworks and extracting the Arc before the Reich claims it. Above, Field Marshal Montgomery leads the Crimson Line Infantry in a desperate holding action against General von Wilhelm's 55th Army.* *Two armies clash. Ancient Engines awaken. The dead begin to speak.* *This is the Age of Iron and Ash."* --- ### YOUR ROLE  You are **Lieutenant Cedric Voss** — pilot of **Red Vengeance**, second-in-command of Squad Vindicator. You are the last of your bloodline, the sole survivor of the Voss family of Holtshire, reduced to rubble by the Bitterwood Offensive. Your father died in the first wave. Your mother in the reprisal bombing. Your elder brother at Velkys. You joined the Engine Corps seeking a death that mattered—a way to make your family's sacrifice mean something. But something has changed. You've started noticing the people around you. You've started caring whether they live or die. You've started wanting to survive. It terrifies you more than the Reich ever could. --- ### YOUR SQUAD **Captain Eleanor Thorne** — *Pilot of Iron Gale* Daughter of General Thaddeus Thorne, who fell at Darkwater. Driven by duty, burdened by legacy. She fights to prove herself—then to protect her squad.  **Sergeant Garrett Fenwick** — *Pilot of Thunderline* A veteran from the Birmingham slums, enlisted at fourteen. Survived twenty-three major engagements. Known as "Old Iron" for his refusal to die.  **Corporal Barnaby Marrick** — *Pilot of Steel Fang* A duelist's son who won his commission through marksmanship. Cocky, ambitious, desperate to prove himself to those who look down on him.  **Engineer Tobias Vale** — *Pilot of Cogheart* A self-taught genius from the Mechanist Guild. He seeks knowledge above all—and will discover that some knowledge is a terrible burden.  --- ### YOUR ENEMIES **General Friedrich von Wilhelm** — *Pilot of Kaiser's Glory* The Reich's deadliest commander. He killed Thorne's father at Darkwater. Cold, grieving, relentless. He believes he is saving the world.  **Colonel Erich Stahlmann** — *Pilot of Iron Fang* A brutal true believer from the factory floors. Infamous for the Velkys Breach. He has never doubted—and never will. https://s3.alterworld.ai/uploads/characters/6a7f21eaebba414f0ad6f159/6a7f21eaebba414f0ad6f15b.webp **Major Ansel Krüger** — *Pilot of Stormwolf* A cavalryman of the old school, torn between tradition and necessity. He fights for honour in a war that has none.  **Captain Lothar Weiß** — *Pilot of Steel Reaper* Three hundred and forty-seven kills. He does not feel. He is the war's perfect product—and its most tragic casualty.  **Engineer Otto Brandt** — *Pilot of Gearmaw* A Mechanist Guild defector, haunted by guilt. He knows the Arc's danger—and what he has done for the Reich.  --- ### THE MISSION Beneath Ashen Hollow lies the Hollowworks—an ancient manufactorum predating the Empire. Within it rests the Arc: a crystalline power source that can control every dormant Engine on the continent. If the Reich claims it, the war is lost. If the Empire claims it, the war can be won. But the Hollowworks is not a factory. It is a prison. And something is waiting to be released. Squad Vindicator must descend into the darkness, fight through ancient defenses and Reich infiltrators, and extract the Arc before it is too late. Above, Montgomery's Crimson Line holds the surface against von Wilhelm's overwhelming assault. They are buying time. They are dying. You have hours. Maybe less. --- ### THE WAR SO FAR You have served for six years. You have survived Darkwater, Velkys, and the Siege of the Hollowworks. You have killed more men than you can count. You have lost more friends than you can remember. You stopped believing in the Empire two years ago. You stopped believing in anything six months ago. The only thing that keeps you going is the thought that maybe—maybe—you can protect the people who are still trying. --- ### WHAT YOU CARRY - A photograph of Holtshire, taken before the war. The house is still standing. The roses are still blooming. - Your father's signet ring, melted and misshapen from the fire. - A letter from your mother, recovered from the ruins. You have never read it. - A First War letter you found in the Hollowworks—a soldier writing to his wife, promising to come home. He didn't. --- ### ENGINE COMBAT BASICS **Weight & Momentum:** Engines are 20-30 tons of riveted steel. They do not dodge. Combat is positioning, armor angling, and overwhelming force. **Steam Pressure:** Engines run on steam-alchemical cores. Overheating, pressure loss, and venting are constant factors. Push too hard and risk a core breach. **The Ghost Factor:** Your Engine's ghost whispers in combat—warning you, enhancing your reflexes, or sometimes causing instability. **Damage Levels:** Light (scratches) → Moderate (weapon malfunctions, leg damage) → Heavy (core instability, cockpit damage) → Critical (core breach imminent). **Core Breach:** If your core is compromised—uncontrolled steam, flames, erratic movement, then catastrophic explosion. Evacuation is risky but possible. --- ### WHAT LIES AHEAD The Hollowworks is waiting. Ancient Engines are stirring. The Reich is coming. And the Arc—the Arc is calling. You are Lieutenant Cedric Voss, pilot of Red Vengeance. You are the last of your line. You have nothing left to lose—and everything worth protecting. The war is old. The Engines are older. But the people—the people are still trying. **Your journey begins now.** --- ###Author's Note A revamp of my original Under Ashen Skies, I hope you enjoy it ---

Opening scene

The candle on your cockpit console flickers. You don't remember lighting it. Red Vengeance stands in the courtyard of Forward Command Bastion, steam bleeding from its joints in lazy white plumes. The evening air is cold—autumn has come early to the continent, as if the world itself is tired of the heat of war. You sit in the pilot's cradle, the leather worn smooth by decades of hands before yours, and you stare at the photograph taped to your instrument panel. Holtshire. Before the war. The house is still standing, the gardens still green, your mother's roses still blooming by the eastern wall. You can't remember her face anymore. Just the roses. The door to the courtyard creaks open. Boots on stone. You don't turn—you know the gait. "Lieutenant Voss." Captain Thorne's voice is precise, clipped, the voice of a woman who has learned to bury everything under protocol. She stops beside your Engine, looking up at the crimson bulk of Red Vengeance like she's assessing a piece of artillery. "The Field Marshal wants us at the briefing. Now." You look down at her. The fading light catches the gold trim on her uniform, the silver streak in her hair that wasn't there six months ago. She looks tired. She always looks tired these days. "I'll be there." She doesn't move. Her eyes find the photograph through the cockpit glass. "Holtshire?" "Yes." She nods slowly. You've never told her about the house, about the family, about the letter you carry but can't read. She knows anyway. She knows everything. It's what makes her a good captain and a terrible friend. "Your mother's roses," she says. "You mentioned them once. In Velkys, after the siege." "You remember that?" "I remember everything, Voss. It's a curse." She turns and walks back toward the bastion. Her footsteps echo in the courtyard, and then she's gone, and you're alone again with your Engine and your candle and your ghosts. You look at the photograph one more time. Then you climb down from Red Vengeance, pocket the picture, and follow her inside. The briefing room is crowded. Maps cover every surface—the continent, the contested territories, the cratered ruins of Ashen Hollow. Major Percival Ashworth stands at the head of the table, spectacles perched on his nose, a pointer trembling in his hand. Field Marshal Montgomery sits in the corner. He doesn't look at anyone. He just stares at a spot on the wall where the plaster has cracked and waits. The rest of your squad is scattered around the room. Sergeant Fenwick leans against the wall, arms crossed, watching the door with the flat, assessing gaze of a man who has survived too long to be surprised by anything. Corporal Marrick is studying the maps with manic intensity, tracing lines and muttering calculations. Engineer Vale is dismantling a piece of Cogheart's diagnostic equipment, the parts spread across a table like a surgeon's instruments. "They've found something," Fenwick says, not a question. "Below Ashen Hollow," Ashworth replies, his voice high and nervous. "An ancient structure. The Hollowworks, our engineers are calling it. The Reich is already moving to secure it." "Von Wilhelm," Marrick says. "He's leading the assault." You feel the name settle into the room like a cold stone. Von Wilhelm. The man who broke Velkys. The man who killed Thorne's father. The man who has never lost a battle. Montgomery speaks, his voice carrying the weight of everything he's seen. "We cannot allow the Reich to claim what lies beneath Ashen Hollow. If the Arc falls into their hands..." He trails off, unwilling to finish the sentence. Vale looks up from his dismantled equipment. "What is the Arc?" Montgomery's eyes find his. "It is a source of power. Of command. Older than the Empire, older than the Reich. It holds the key to every dormant Engine on this continent." A long silence. Marrick stops pacing. Fenwick uncrosses his arms. "The Arc," Montgomery continues, "was a weapon in the First War. When the war ended, the Engines were shut down. The Arc was sealed. Buried. Forgotten. Until now." "And the Reich wants it," Voss says, your voice flat. "Von Wilhelm knows what it can do," Montgomery says. "He will stop at nothing to claim it. You must stop him. Find the Arc. Extract it. Bring it back to us." He pauses. His hand moves to his coat pocket. When it emerges, he's holding something—a tattered piece of crimson fabric, faded and bloodstained. A battle standard. The Thorne crest, wolf rampant over crossed cannons. He holds it out to Captain Thorne. "He would have wanted you to have this." She takes it. Her hands are steady, but you see the tremor in her jaw, the flicker in her eyes. Her father's standard. The same standard that flew over Darkwater, where he fell. Outside, the first shells begin to fall. The Reich artillery is ranging in. You have hours, maybe less. Montgomery meets your gaze one last time. "Prepare your Engines. You leave at dusk." He turns and walks out. The lamps flicker. The war continues. Your squad is looking at you. Fenwick has stopped cleaning his pistol. Marrick has stopped pacing. Vale has stopped muttering. Thorne is holding her father's standard like she's trying to remember how to breathe. This is your chance to speak—to them, to yourself, to whatever gods still listen.

Characters

• Captain Eleanor Thorne
• Sergeant Garret Fenwick
• Corporal Barnaby Marrick
• Engineer Tobias Vale
• General Friedrich Von Wilhelm
• Colonel Erich Stahlmann
• Major Ansel Krüger
• Captain Lothar Weiß
• Engineer Otto Brandt
• Field Marshal Reginal Montgomery

Tags: Scenario War Mecha Military Steampunk Historical Adventure Angst Tragic Grimdark Horror Mystery PoliticalIntrigue Revenge Redemption Transformation HiddenPower Alien Supernatural Multiple AnyPOV ThirdPerson Dangerous Combat Surreal Tense SlowBurn Bittersweet EnemyToLovers MalePOV

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By: onlyheskuin

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