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| Author | Dawn of Things to come |
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After leaving one of the Palace's balconies from whence Her Majesty was observing the crowded celebrations all over the Great Capital's central areas, She made a sign for her numerous maids of honour to leave Her and withdrew to Her chamber. As the maids joined other nobles in their supper, the Empress let loose the coiffure that has already begun to annoy Her allowing the black shiny curls to freely spread over Her shoulders. Her glance fell on Her own smiling reflection in the mirror.
- Irreproachable! - The little Faerie nodded from a picture on the opposite wall.
The Empress beamed at her and extracted the nexus-stone out of her drawer, the present of the mysterious foreigners that would allow her to contact them. She touched the little carving on the stone with her signet-ring, and the mage's voice sounded at once in her head.
- Good evening, Your Majesty. Did you wish to communicate?
- Yes, wise man. I speak to notify you that my subjects have recently finalized the construction of Pier and Lighthouse, and I am thereupon ready to receive your embassy.
The mage hundreds of miles away from that spot opened wide his mouth in awe. He spoke in a louder voice than before, obviously, in order to make himself heard by his other companions.
- You... have finalized the construction?
- True, my dear friend. When should we expect the visit from you?
- We uhm... We haven't even reached our Homeland yet, Your Highness, we are still in the open sea. Perhaps, I wouldn't be too wrong estimating the time of our embassy to come several weeks after we enter the new calendar cycle.
- The apex of our Lighthouse shall never extinguish its torch; it will be my delight to welcome you. Goodbye, Wizard. | Her Majesty was sitting in Her chamber plunged in thought and reminiscence. She recalled the day she had been crowned to rule the Empire when Her beloved father passed away. It was the day when the greatest decision in Her life was taken, She fully understood back then, that she was devoting Herself to the Realm, making it the purpose, love and symbol of Her life. She remembered how uneasy She used to feel during Her first year of Ruling the Empire because of the imperfection and clumsy sophistication of the Court's structure, how She found strength an inspiration in Herself and in Her followers to initiate changes, to breathe new spirit into Her surrounding.
She smiled when an idea suddenly formed in Her head. She remembered well how strong a feeling it was to consider those times the Renaissance, the dawn of the new age, the passing from negative to positive sections of Empire's axis. She now knew that it had been nothing more than a checkpoint, that these events right here, reflected in every pair of eyes of her subjects, audible in every mouth, thought of in every head, would be rather more the Dawn of Things to come.
Yet She didn't seem to have the same certainty of Her youth. After all, why couldn't this just be another checkpoint, another slight turn in the history of Her Empire, whereas the point of true Rebirth was yet too far away to be sensed...
These cogitations were interrupted by a timid knock. A messenger arrived carrying a little parchment and a wrapped case of considerable size.
-This has been sent to Your Majesty by Warlord Kalirosh earlier today. Should I leave it here at Your Majesty's kind consent?
The Empress pointed on the table absent-mindedly, and nodded in response to the young man’s curtsey, hastening him to leave. She took the parchment, disbanded Her previous thoughts at last and read in concentration.
"Your Majesty,
Our troops have successfully been dismissed and returned to their dwellings. Current situation in Ridge of Hope remains military. It is impossible to say how many Dragon clans we have vanquished; I might as equally suggest they were ninety nine percent as that they were a sore one percent. One thing I can promise for sure: any Lord stationed anywhere in Ridge of Hope is in full danger of being counter-attacked. Hence, at the moment there is no possibility to develop strategic or economical facilities anywhere beyond the border line of East Bay. Upon terminating the campaign I have personally commanded to increase Pier security garrison..."
The Empress rolled her eyes as the irksome signal horn troubled the relative silence of her Chamber yet again. It has sounded too many times for the last week, She thought, but the expression of nuisance changed to anxiety, for this last signal sounded for a longer time than those previous times.
"Find out what is it", - Her Majesty claimed to one of her maids and ran over the rest of the report. She paused her glance for some brief seconds at the words "strange crystalline substance", "of no living or magical origin", "contains no threat" and "commend it to the best alchemists and smiths". Roughly one minute later She was already entering the Throne hall to be reported the cause of this last alarm. | Only the most lazy or indifferent Lords wouldn't come out to the pier on that evening to welcome a single vessel with the same symbols as the two previous ones, moored minutes ago at the newly constructed docks. This one was different though: there were no signs of it having survived a natural disaster, besides, it was loaded port through starboard with something massive, but covered with a tarpaulin.
A sound "Way to the Empress!" shout made the Lords part to let Her Majesty walk towards the pier and face the druid that stepped off the ship. It seemed absolutely impossible to predict his age, as though time never had the power over him. He was using his staff as support, yet had neither limp nor senile weariness in his gait.
-Pleazhe forgive ush the shurprizhe, Your Majeshty, - the druid giggled after producing a clumsy courtsey in front of the Empress. - You have proved to be a Governor of great nobility and good nature, You helped our people in time when they shought sholashe.
-But how in the world did you get here so fast? The Wizard I was communicating with, he said they were still in the open sea on their way back home!
-There are many wayzh to shpeed the courshe up, Milady! Eshpeshially for Archmage Shorish, - the Druid shined again. - It izh the period of Winter Sholshtice in the landsh we come from, the time of year when Magic flowzh and conshentratesh in the air up to the point it can be felt with our shenshesh.
-You celebrate Christmas too!
-We do, and it izh not in our habit to forget our debtsh, but to repay them in thezhe marveloush timezh. Archmage Shorish, the mage whozhe shoul element you pozhesh, has informed us that you were moshtly impreshed with our finesht weaponry. Our Highnesh shendsh you thezhe shamplesh azh a shign of friendship, gratitude and dishpozhition.
The crowd that was mostly smiling kindly, listening to the ageless druid with a curious blemish, sighed in awe. As the tarpaulin went down, their eyes witnessed a whole armory of shining weapons and plates, all sorts of ammunition and accessories.
-Your Mazheshty hazh shertainly sheen mosht of thezhe already, - the druid sang. - Will You kindly order the unloading? | Fifteen minutes later, the druid sat beyond the Empress in Her throne hall, graciously asking her questions about his homeland.
-So what is the name of that Archmage?' , - the Empress asked incidentally. The druid smiled guiltily, raised his staff and shook it. A swarm of wisps went out of its encrusted stone, floating in the air and forming the word "SORISH".
-You will, I hope, forgive my...
-There is nothing to be confused about, votary of Nature, nothing at all, - the Empress interrupted with no sorry tones in her voice.
-He izh the greatesht Wizhard of our landsh, accounting only to the Mage King Himshelf.
-So it turns out, Wizards are supreme in your land?
-Not exactly, Your Highnesh. Our ruler izh a young but wizhe and jusht Empresh, much like Your Highnesh. The Mage King izh the Wizhard faction leader, almosht no different from any other Heroesh ecshept for hizh affinity for luxury and his attitude. He livezh in a palashe in a different shity, much shmaller than our Capital, but of courshe, he recognizhesh Her Majeshty'zh rule. We prefer not to shpeak about what happened when he onshe dared to oppozhe it.
-Two Empires, two Empresses, two twin realms, - the Empress joked, staring at the druid with interest, waiting for what he would reply.
-Two nationsh' heartsh beating azh one, - the druid replied with accuracy that made it sound like the answer had been learned by heart. - Ready to cooperate, trade and combine effortsh to lead both Empirezh to proshperity.
-Could you tell how is Christmas celebrated in your land?
- Huh.. Bashically, it izh a fat bearded old man veshted in red clothesh, Your Majeshty. He shpreadzh joy and happinesh, cheerzh people and givezh them prezhentsh, shometimezh making them earn thozhe prezhentsh by competing.
-The Sphynx! - Her Majesty laughed sincerely. - Quite a particular incarnation though, I must say.
-May I ashk what it izh, Your Mazheshty?
-It is our main entertainment during Christmas. There's so much magic in the air that the statue of enigmatic Sphynx is revived, puzzling citizens with challenging cryptic riddles and rewarding them depending on their wit.
-Nature'zh good Will!
-I take it, you would love to participate. I will hold you no more, go now and enjoy the celebrations with the rest of your people. | TL;DR version, posts 1-3.
Events: The Empress contacts the departed guests and communicates them that the construction is over. The latter are astonished and inform about a possible delay of further embassy. Nevertheless, a few days after that event, while the Empress is reading the warlord's report about the Dragon campaign and the piece of ore collected in RoH, the promised embassy arrives. Boarded on the ship, entitled as the overseas Empire representative and plenipotentiary ambassador, resides a Druid that is further believed to possess indescribable understanding of Nature and many of its magical powers.
After their mutual greetings and expressing courtesies two things are discovered: the Druid has a most beautiful lisp; and the overseas ruler is most grateful for the Empress's kindness and sends gifts of gratitude, which turn out to be samples of mithril weaponry and armament.
Updates: Artifact shop is stocked with new artifacts for high level players. Ridge of Hope location still serves as residence for the Dragon guards that occasionally attack any Lord at full health beyond combat level 2 present there.
Interesting facts: The Druid explains is fast arrival with extreme arcane powers of the overseas archmage, Sorish, and his practical spellcasting. Looks like Sorish enchanted the rigging of the ship to make her sail with acceleration. | TL;DR version, post 4.
Events: The Empress and the druid exchange stories of the past and share some of their traditions.
Updates: Sphynx event. Players are challenged with 9 questions regarding the game mechanics, then rewarded according to their successes.
Interesting facts: Multiple teasers until now have been crowned with a massive spoiler: the ambassadors did arrive from an Empire better known by some as HWM.ru. The Druid narrates details of the latest War event in that realm. Further development of relations between the two worlds is to be expected.
The Empress inquires whether the overseas players have a Christmas symbolic character similar to their Sphynx. The Druid describes an old man in red clothes that is none other than Ded Moroz, the Russian embodiment of Santa. The Empress is amused by the description, and later communicates him the method to enliven the Statue so that the guests are able to hold a similar event. | | "Dawn of Things to come" news block is to be finalized. | The morning after the banquet in the Chriselleum, the noble Lords of the Empire stood at the newly constructed harbor to say the final farewells to the overseas envoys. A great crowd showed up to see the stranger off. Some came for excitement, some for gossip, and some for mere awe of the moment. The main street down to the dock was left clear so that those of importance could easily move ahead. Along the alley ways and balconies however, there wasn’t room enough for the smallest imp to squeeze any further forward. In his short time within the Empire, the druid of rank Hermit had managed to make quite an impression on its people.
At the street’s end, the docks opened wide into the East Bay. The harbor with its long pier and wide open space provided the best setting for the crowd to culminate. The races of the realm stood around the square, looking down the cleared street excitedly. The six councilmen made their way down, waving to the crowds with wide smiles. Amongst them was Hermit, beaming with joy and swinging his staff wildly in amusement.
Together, Hermit and the council made their way to the very center where the crowd around began chanting and speaking of his wonders he had performed. As they took their places to address the crowd, the voices died away, signaling the Empress to begin.
With arms upraised and eyes set on the masses before Her, the Empress began. “Citizens of the Empire. It is with the greatest of sorrows that we must say goodbye to our new friends. We knew that their time here could not last forever, and now it is that we must let them return to their home across the sea. Let us send them back with all of our best wishes.”
With this She stepped back into the row of council members, motioning for the first to step forward. Councilman Feurlis, a tall lean necromancer with dark hair and ever roaming eyes whispered into the Empress’s ear, “We shouldn’t have started without Warlord Kalirosh.”
Without looking to him She responded, “The Warlord knew of the farewell ceremony, he will be here. In the meantime we should begin.” | Warlord Feurlis then stepped forward, looking back and forth throughout the crowd. With a slight stutter he began. When he finished he handed Hermit a bright cloth made of the richest threads in all of the Empire then returned to the line behind him. One by one the councilors did the same, offering words of wisdom and a gift worthy of someone as Hermit. At last they looked down the line of councilors, noting that Kalirosh still hadn’t appeared but not willing to alert the crowds to his failure to show. Nor did it skip Her attention that Hermit was giving a piercing look through the crowd, as if trying to find someone, and Her Majesty did not need to take long guesses about who it was. The Empress sighed visibly, knowing that She would need to speak to Warlord Kalirosh later about his tardiness. She stepped forward. “Finally, my dear people, we send Hermit on his way with an invitation that he is always welcome to return.” She looked to Hermit now, and spoke much softer so that only he or the keenest elven ears could hear. “We look forward to your return and what bonds of peace this will bring between our people.” She leaned forward and kissed his still youthful cheek. Hermit then gathered the items he had been given and stepped towards the boat. At last he shouted out, “I will be sheeing you shoon enough!”
After the final clumsy courtsey that amused Her Majesty so much, already on board, Hermit let loose the rigging which held the sail in place. The tarp quickly unfolded with a ‘whoosh’ and spread wide as if a strong wind was caught up in it. As the air propelled the ship forward the sail began to glow softly, gaining in intensity with the magical wind entering it growing stronger. Suddenly the sail erupted into a bright light, sending thousands of dazzling rays cascading over the onlookers. As this happened it hasted the ship, quickly sending it into the middle of the East Bay and leaving the stunned crowds breathlessly behind.
As the ship made its way home, a lone figure appeared on the horizon on a great black mare looking into the East Bay. “So he’s leaving already”, - the Warlord stated matter-of-factly. – “But he can’t be allowed to leave without this.” The Warlord held an item in his hands which he tapped determinedly. “Ha!” he cried loudly, kicking his horse forward with great speed. He made his way up a tall jagged path that ran border-line with the coast and cut into the East Bay like a dagger. Thoughts of the events which occurred within the last few hours still fresh in his memory, he spurred the horse on faster. | After Hermit’s supposition that the green-sphere might be to blame for the mysterious “Mastermind call”, Kalirosh personally surveyed the eastern lands, and found that what he had been told was true. Every weak-willed being from the insects of the field to larger much more dangerous creatures had been seen abiding this call. He sent for the sphere at once, but the arrogant alchemists would not release it. He alone had to go to the Artifact forge where the tests had been conducted. After fruitless arguing about the peril of the sphere Kalirosh simply grabbed the nugget, pushed the frightened scientists out of the way and ran out of the chambers. By the time he reached East Bay the ship was already taking off, but he felt he knew the only right thing to do for the good of the entire Empire.
The Warlord had reached the summit of the ledge as the Empress was waving the druid off. A flash of green caught the crowd’s attention. Their gaze shifted to something far in the distance. There, high above on the ledge bordering the coastline, a man leapt off of his horse, hitting the ground heavily. He was now making his way to the edge muttering to himself “’I could take a look at it’, he said.. Grmph.. ‘Uncompromised unveiling of its SHecretSH’ he said… You got it then.” He ran towards the end of the cliff gaining speed, then with incredible strength and a sound “HAVE IT YOUR WAY!” let the green-sphere loose, hurling it out into the sea. The stunned crowd looked on as the green-sphere reached an incredible height, then descended ominously towards Hermit’s vessel. | The nugget accelerated downwards at first to where the magically propelled ship was gaining speed. Then inexplicable happened: a dim hurling glow appeared originating from the sphere and enveloping the whole ship, which delayed the movement of both until finally the sphere hovered over the vessel just above where the first rays of the sail reached outward. It looked as though the mysterious object emanated a transparent tornado that was to suck the entire ship within. An emerald flash burst outwards from the sphere, even brighter than the sails had done only minutes before.
As the light increased in intensity a sound slowly began to rise, like a soft blowing of the wind. It rose as the light brightened, becoming a high pitched screech like the wailing of ten thousand banshees. The terrible sound began to grow, echoing off of the cliff walls surrounding the East Bay. Light and sound became so intense that those on the docks could feel the power emitting from the sphere.
Until, finally, the last breath of wind stored by the Archmage’s spell was released.
When the light and horrible sound died down, the sphere dropped gently on board, and rolled slowly towards Hermit. He stopped it with his foot, stared at it cautiously and looked around. The magic in the sails had been completely drained. With a sad expression, Hermit looked up at the cliff where Kalirosh stood with his head down, panting. Hermit realized that, given the minimal number of his crew accompanying him in this mission, the voyage ahead would now be long and arduous. He slowly brought his hand close to the sphere, now glowing in brighter green than any of the Empire inhabitants had seen it to. He sensed it was tepid before even feeling it, thus understanding that it was safe to pick it up without the danger of burning himself. With the sphere in his hands, he waved to Kalirosh the farewell that he was not expecting to wave any more, and retreated into the stateroom. | Kalirosh himself was very amazed at the scene, but he had now unpleasant thoughts to occupy his head. What he did today, back at the Foundry, was of his own outburst, without any discussion with the other Warlord council members. Knowing Feurlis’s methods he could almost swear the necromancer Warlord would now present this case to Her Majesty as none other than act of treason.
Worst of it all, he had no real proof to arm his defense with. All that moved him this day, all that originated his doubts, was a supposition left by a mysterious humanoid stranger, the mad old man with a staff and a lisp and weird manners. “But he is not old. Nor young” – the veteran remembered and that made him even more desperate. He knew nothing about Hermit, not his real name, age or origin, yet he staked everything on his words. "I did what was right! What was necessary for the good of my Land" - the warlord spat aloud trying to pacify himself. He was still certain, but no longer felt safe and fearless, and that hurt the most.
Back at the pier, in the narrow line of the East Bay’s dry land, Her Majesty the Empress was having similar thoughts. While the startled crowd looked on at the now slow-moving ship about to disappear behind the coastline of Ridge of Hope, She stared at the figure on the cliff with unconcealed sadness. He was too far away to see with the human eye, but his strong form and obstinate stance told Her who it was. As he stood there panting from the exertion of the run, She continued staring, knowing that She would have more to speak to him about now than merely his absence at the Farewell ceremony.
She regretted whatever the outcome would be. | TL;DR version.
Events: Hermit returns to his home overseas. Kalirosh is absent during the final Farewell ceremony, as it turns out, he is at the Foundry, taking the sphere by force intending to surrender it to Hermit. He is almost late, but still manages to pass it over in an impressive athletic shot put. The sphere now lies in possession of the overseas Empire.
Kalirosh is sure what he does is best, but he knows he would now have to hold answer for his actions, and feels unsure whether he would be able to defend his honest intentions in front of the tribunal.
Updates: None. (I know, I know, they are coming, just a little more patience =) )
Interesting facts: This is the first time the exact number of Warlord council members has been revealed, seven. Feurlis is featured as the necromancer Warlord, while Kalirosh obviously is a knight, thus giving ground to suppose that there is one Warlord of each faction in the council.
It is now quite clear what the sphere was: A piece of ore, or better to say, a very rich nugget of a metal with unusual properties, most notorious of them being magic absorption. |
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