In my book series, an evil space conqueror named Tate is attacking the planet of Aztlan. However, in order to do so, he must subjugate the Avian tribe and their capital city of Palo Alto. However, there is one problem: Palo Alto is built in the treetops of Cloudburst Forest. How would Tate and his army reach this treetop city, defeat the Avians, and conquer it?
Some things to note about Palo Alto:
- The city is built on the treetops of Cloudburst Forest
- The city bears a strong resemblance to the Ewok village from Return of the Jedi, but is a city of 150,000 people instead of a tiny village
- The only way up to the city is a narrow spiraling ramp up a tree that is guarded by the lion's share of Palo Alto's troops
Some things to know about Aztlan in general:
- Planet's culture and technology is based on Aztec, Incan, and Mayan civilizations
- The planet is home to Aztec animals and wild dinosaurs (the ones that have been domesticated for war purposes will be mentioned when I talk about armies and army sizes)
- Tate is on Aztlan trying to steal the souls of the Lords of Xibalba to use them in his dark ritual. However, he has no idea where they are, so he has to torture the information out of people like the King of the Avians.
Some things to know about Cloudburst Forest:
The forest is dominated by mutant kapok trees that are double the size of giant sequoias. These trees' bark is coated in a special magical salve (made mostly of coconut milk enchanted by Aztlan's Black Sun Priestesses) that makes them nigh indestructible. The city of Palo Alto is built on these.
The forest is surrounded by impenetrable mountains in all directions but the east. On the east is Zultun Dock, an area the Avians use as a harbor on Lake Coxcote (which is east of Zultun Dock). The Tatians control Zultun Dock, as well as the eastern half of the forest floor.
The ramp to Palo Alto is located at the western edge of Cloudburst Forest. Here, a large waterfall coming down from the cliffs to the west feeds a stream that bisects Cloudburst Forest and flows into Lake Coxcote. At the bottom of this waterfall, there is a small island with a single tree on it. This tree has a spiral ramp carved into it that serves as the only ground entrance to Palo Alto. It is guarded by the majority of the Avians' forces. The western half of the stream is guarded by Avian canoes. Around 1/3 of the Avians remain in Palo Alto itself in case all else fails.
Stats for Avians:
Troop numbers: 24,000 Avian Infantry, 12,000 Avian Archers, 5,000 other Aztlanian Infantry, 4,000 Cavalry (Utahraptor riders), 100 War Canoes (each war canoe contains a rower, an archer, and a warrior).
Weapons: Avian Archers use bows/arrows, slings, blowguns, and atlatls. Avian Infantry use macuahuitl. Other Aztlanian Infantry use similar weapons to the Avian Infantry. The cavalry rides on Utahraptors and uses tlacochtli spears.
Stats for Tatians:
Troop numbers: 20,000 Aztlanian Mercenaries, 8,000 Aztlanian Archers, 14,000 Squidian Mercenaries, 3,000 Squidian Archers, 13,500 108er Mercenaries, 4,000 108er Archers, 200 Vigamian Mercenaries, and 40 Vigamian Archers. Roughly 2/3 of each mercenary group are infantry, and the other 1/3 are archers. The one exception are the 108ers, which are split evenly between infantry, archers, and sailors. Squidian cavalry is zebra-based, and 108er cavalry is mostly horse-based, though they did bring 20 war mammoths. Vigamian cavalry rides gigantic milipedes the size of small cars.
Weapons: Aztlanian Mercenaries use the same weapons as the Avian troops. 108ers are basically space vikings, using viking broadswords, chainmail armor, great axes, bows/arrows, and wooden shields. Squidians use African weapons, such as the Iklwa spear, Zulu shield, scimitar, Kpinga, and Makrigga. Vigamian troops use broadswords, scythes, plate armor, clubs, boomerangs, and daggers. The 108ers have built ~600 longships, which are stationed at Zultun Dock. The archers for each mercenary group (except the Aztlanians) all use basically identical bows and iron-tipped arrows.
Other important context
Although both sides of this battle are capable of space travel, their spaceships are magic-powered instead of tech-powered, so space travel does not give any side a technological edge
This battle takes place well after the Tatians have already landed their ships, and those ships are on the other side of the planet, so they cannot attack from the air.
If you need to know more about this universe's magic system, click here.
If you need to know more about this universe in general, click here.
If you need to know more about Aztlan, click here.
Victory Conditions
Tate: get the Avian king to surrender and tell him where to find the Lords' souls. City does not need to be intact because he's just going to blow up the planet anyway during his ritual, but he's not going to go out of his way to destroy the city or anything
Avians: survive long enough for the Tatians to decide to give up