- R E A L M N E W S -
[ T H E W H I S P E R S O N T H E W I N D . . . . ]
(Make sure your character keeps updated on what is going on in the realm. Maybe they could help out in the storyline? Keep educated!)
~ Twenty and Third day of August ~
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For the past Twelve years focus has been on Xenthe's growth as a separate, individual nation. With the Queen and King's absence a select group of Tel'ranoi ambassadors have been voted to rule in their stead.
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Relative peace has been gifted to the denizens of Xenthe, with only the occasional bout of troublesome monsters raiding villages and bandits who will always find their way to ransack the less unfortunate.
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A new chapter is beginning here....
~ Twenty and fourth day of April ~
The Realm of Xenthe has been in a stage of progress and building on foundations for the past few months.
No major threats have been spied during this time of relative peace and growth..........until now.
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The Red Militia - A 300 strong military legion made up completely up of Vampires were hired out by the Queen Kestrel in a temporary effort to keep up Xenthe's defenses whilst the King's losses in the last war for the Capital were being rewon and regained. However, typically, this turned sour quickly when the Red Militia were found to be trying to capture and pawn off Xenthe citizens to an unknown bidder. The Queen had set a bait trap to lure the soliders into their back handed treachery, and sure enough, it worked beautifully. No one understood Vampire's intentions as the Queen of Blood herself, afterall.
After Veriden made a very potent threat to the Commander of the Red Militia - Arno Demathis - the Vampire army suddenly dissapeared into the ether. No where to be found having vacated their mountain accomodation which over looked Nuduin. This was dangerous and the King soon required the assistance of his Vampire Queen, Kestrel to use her superior skills and knowledge to track the AWOL legion. So far, Kestrel had managed to find a small group hiding out in an old shrine to the South west region.
The King and Queen's plan to expose the treacherous vampire to the slayers and Hunters of Tel'ranoi would begin very shortly. To gain help from the neighboring city that was well known for it's hatred of the supernatural unsavories, would be beneficial for Veriden as not to spend more of his own army in dealing with the rogue Militia..but the Queen's doubts on allowing a huge number of Vampire slayers into the realm of Xenthe was an obvious weight on her mind. She was almost legendary in her home kingdom for her viciousness and dark nature. Kestrel still had a reward on her head and forever will for her terrible, evil ways when she was but a fledgling.
Though, the Faceless King assured his Queen that all would be under control. Besides, who would dare unleash fury upon the Crimson Serpent's mate?....
The King's suspicions of the Red Miltia being bought out in their contract by an unknown player was proved correct as the gathering evidence of unknown magical group unleashed a prodding attack on the Capital with a War Ogre. Clad in thick armor and armed with massive weaponary. Veriden managed to slay the huge beast but the Mage whom was controlling the Ogre managed to slip away uncaught. Now the hunt is on for further information of this mysterious buyer whom seeks the downfall of Xenthe.
~ Twelfth day of January ~
The Daeshar threat has been eliminated!
Along side the destruction of the Green Dragon, whom was the terror in the skies in the North of Xenthe, both major threats of the realm have been over thrown and conquered thanks to the smart, well prepared tactics of the Faceless King and his acquired allies. Gathered troops from his unorthodox tel'ranoi Shadow elf ally, named Kaderin and her own soldiers, the celestial warriors of Lord Zeon and Xion, the magi knights, the human Viking clans and a host of Paladin and calvary mounted holy knights joined in the battle for the Capital Of Xenthe. 'The AWAKENING' - as it shall ever been known throughout the peoples of Xenthe.
The Battle began with Veriden using Geomancers from his Dryad allies to raise massive earth-ramps either side of the walls of the Capital in order to get his troops over rather than fighting their way through. Whilst the Xenthe allies wasted no time in starting a messy, violent battle with the Dragon's undead army of thousands Veriden had bought along a batch of Dragon hunters along side his Vampire Queen to lure the dragon to them, where he struck it mid flight with specially designed spears. As soon as the mighty beast was strapped and bonded with a mixture of magic and dragon-strength bonds, the Queen went to do her part in the battle. Making the Vampiric dragon her thrall. In order to dominate the Dragon's will, Kestrel had to fight the beasts subconcious with her psyche prowess. Because of her superior age and pure blood line, Kestrel had a clear starting advantage but the battle took it's toll on the Queen's strength. She won her battle with the creature and commanded him to relieve all necromancy from his summons. What happened next was a turning point in the favour of the King's men.
All of the undead walkers turned to ash in a single cloud of destruction. It was only the Daeshar that were left to fight, of which Vauzul had been holding back and aiming to out flank the approaching King's army. With carefully placed spells and superior officers, Veriden's forces although slightly less, met the daeshar head on in a nasty, lethal battle in the centre of the ruined Capital. Vauzul, herself aimed to kill the King. She saw a figure whom fought exactly like Veriden, moved like Veriden...and to her eyes...was the King. She slew the imposter..only to then find out it wasn't infact the King, but his long-time childhood friend, Captain Gregor. Her suprise was dulled by the appearance of the enraged King whom did not hesistate in making his appearance there and then to meet the Commander head-on.
Calm, calculated and without emotion, Veriden barely lifted a finger in defending against the shocked Commander and made quick work of slicing off both her arms in a single move - leaving her disabled and unarmed..literally.
To top off this victory, the Faceless King froze the Daeshar commander with his icy elemental Qi, denying Vauzul the death she taunted for, and denying her chance to be reborn. Now the icy statue of the armless Daeshar leader stands as a cruel reminder, outside the Temple of Ruin, of the consequence of opposing the deadly Crimson Serpent and all that he held close.
~Twenty and first day of December~
As the tough Xenthe winter weather well and truly settles in for the long haul, the people of Nuduin continue their daily routines and hard labor. The heavy snowfall only a minor inconvienence to the hardships they had to endure in Tel'ranoi. Blizzards and snow storms are a regular occurance and temperatures plummet to freeze water droplets almost instantly.
Many travellers come and go in the established village of Nuduin. Some for shelter and provisions, others to seek out life in this snow-raped wilderness.
But there is always a threat looming over Xenthe.
A constant pressure building beneath the surface of the Faceless King's flesh. The ever dangerous and ruthless presence of Vauzul and her legion of Daeshar assassins and cultists. For a month and a half she had her guised assassin-monsters nit-pick at Nuduin's morale and even go far as to ensure a possession of a young Magi-knight would shake up the commonfolk's resolve. Holding his own family for ransom to demand the King's attention. When Veriden visited the distraught, troubled family of elves, he saw a scene that awakened his own memories. Memories that he long since pushed into the pits of his soul, never to resurface. The possessed magi-knight spouted promises of doom and ruin before turning on his own family. The Masked King intervened and saved the family's life....but at a hefty price. Murdering their possessed son. This carried a heavy weight on Veriden's already burdened shoulders and much troubled his stoic mind from this point. Being reminded of his own family's demise in a similar fashion was not winning Vauzul any allies. She seemed to be ensuring a messy fate very rapidly.
Only a week and a half after the funeral of the Magi-knight, the Daeshar made another appearance.
But this time in a larger force.
Vauzul, becoming bored and tiresome hiding out within the safety of the Dragon's held capital city of Xenthe, joined in with the minature assault aimed to cause havoc and chaos at the soithern tip of the village of Nuduin. The King's primary focus of industry and the locale of his strength. To get to the village, the Daeshar clan flattened the mining village of the Spine of Xenthe. Only limited survivors had managed to pull through such destruction of their harmless civilisation. And less than a quarter of the small populace of the village remains alive. Pressing forward, Vauzul sent her small army through the woods and up to the southern gate, where....the Faceless King and his warmages were waiting. Thanks to the early warning system in place, Nuduin's defense were raised before the small pack of Daeshar got in place. Before the Mages cast their deadly wave of fire and acid through the forest in the general direction of the demonic Daeshar, a few of the DECAY tipped arrows had struck true to the mages and started the lethal infections in some of the King's faithfuls.
After the mass wave of desctructive magic was sent forth, the pack of Daeshar turned about and spread their flammable cloaks to meet head on with the wave of summoned magicks. A mighty explosion flashed loud and bright, but Veriden managed to deflect most of the damage with a wall of his icy Qi. Still, the blast managed to crack such a wall and shards peirced several Knights and took the lives of two. The forest beyond was flattened beyond repair.
Angered by such a rouse, the King shot straight to seek the Commander herself, using his powerful planar travel abilties seeking her out amongst her personal body guard, slaying -every single one- and planned to face her for a final bout to end it all.
Vauzul, seeing the King enraged and empowered, fled back to the relative safety of the Capital. To fight another day.
~ Twenty and third day of November ~
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With the King and Queen, and Rashirra on the mend from the battle to regain Veriden's free will, it was with an epiphany that the King realized he needed to make sure this abuse of the Djinn's wish graning abilities would never be used to manipulate the Royals of the land again. After much discussion, it was decided that Rashiraa would become bound to the King and Queen in treasured 'ownership'. As the Djinn's official Masters, Kestrel and Veriden could make sure that no wishes could be granted by any other parties apart from themselves. This was to protect the realm from any more of Vauzul's fiendish attempts to gain control and to protect the Royal Seamstress, herself. Under the protection of the mighty monster monarchy, the woman was set to never be abused again.....unwillingly anyway!
Meanwhile, as the movement of the Daeshar army became ever more unpredicatable and unsetteling for the King to comprehend, he had discussed with his Queen of a possible infiltration of the Capital Of Xenthe where the Green Dragon had began to make his nest of undead hordes. They had got word that Vauzul had charmed the magnificent over-sized lizard to side with her cause for a price. It wasn't clear what the price was, but together the Daeshar and the Dragon, that wanted to claim Xenthe for himself, would make a formidable enemy. The King had set his wishes for his Queen, Kestrel, to start making plans to use her natural (and skilled) prowess to spy any information she could gather about their plans.
Elsewhere, a raiding party of Daeshar was intercepted beyond the woods, heading towards the newely established village of Qual Fara to the northern borders of Xenthe. But to whom had interupted their march to cut off precious trading routes in order to starve the other growing stronghold out? The Royal Healer, Shekinah and her Seraphic warriors gathered in smaller numbers, but rained their holy fire upon the demonic party nontheless. Although outnumbered five-to-one, the Xion Angel's fought viciously and without regret of their fiery, holy might. In the end, the seraphic warriors whom were not gifted death by the Daeshar captains, would flee up to their floating city once more. No doubt to share the news with their Military leader, Zeon. As this happened, Shekinah was ambushed and left alone to fend for herself amongst a group of powerful Daeshar recruits. In a very dangerous predicament, the Healer was doomed to be defiled and used before brutally murdered...if it wasn't for Veriden's scouts moving on swift heels to warn the king of the plight of his Angelical ally. Coming to Shekinah's aid, Veriden's combat skills soon cut through the Daeshar captain and his companions. In grateful offerings to his 'heroic' deed, Shekinah offered to attempt to cure Veriden's curse of blindness that befelled him as nightfall approached.
All that was left to do was figure out the details...
~ Fifth day of November ~
Upon the Storm of Vauzul’s vengeance did the Possessed Veriden travel. On demonic wings did he fly, purposefully summoning a demonic storm to make his presence known upon the unsuspecting Temple of Ruin. Though, unbeknownst to the Queen and Rashirra, the reasoning behind the summoned weather was to ensure the demonic form of their Faceless King had very little mana left to cause his most loyal subjects any further harm. Vauzul may have had her puppet strings around Veriden’s physical body, but his mind had other ideas.
As the King returned to his rightful home, Rashirra was there to greet him. Although the Djinn did not fully recognise such a monster as her King, it eventually dawned on her that this threat was well known to her person and as she kept the conversation flowing, did Kestrel seek to sneak an attack upon the demonic Veriden. Managing to Shoulder-charge her possessed mate and shattering some vital organs and bones, Kestrel began a vicious brawl with her lover. Causing a mass of injuries to both parties. This fight was sorely for the purpose of Kestrel taking a chance to rip/tear/bite the Daeshar possession orb from Veriden’s chest and untie the puppet strings Vauzul had cursed him with. Physically removing it from the man, was the only option the Queen and her friend could spy and because the demon-elf was under direct control of the Daeshar Commander, there would be no softly-softly approach to this meeting.
After being gravely wounded and having her bottom half hanging by the thread of her spine (literally) Kestrel managed to rip to control orb with her strong Vampiric jaws, right out of Veriden’s chest. Eliminating the control that Vauzul had managed to gain on the King of Xenthe. Forced to remain in his demonic shift for so long, Veriden had no alternative but to shut his body down and focus on the massive task of healing. This shift, no doubt, will leave more terrible scars than what has laid on his flesh prior. The Queen had also needed time out to heal her massacred body, but being a Vampire meant that Kestrel was much more efficient at healing herself than the elf, whom was promptly tended to by his royal healer, Shekinah.
The threat of Vauzul and her rage still remains, for time will tell what other tricks she will pull from her sordid sleeves…