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An ancient dwarf going by the name of Tungdil Goldhand traverses the polished rooftops of Balian. The mask of Dungrimm conceals the visage of this must-be imposter. "Excellent business lads, with the tea in the belly 'o this moighteh vessel weh'll beh able tah make ah lotta profit!"

"Sybille, your promise has been less than kept." Wrote the An-Gho "My people grow weary. You leave us waiting."

previously bǫlva where am i? for all i hear is the noise wishing for solace in the dark that surrounds me it only seeks to consume me, my blade for my purpose is now but in the blood i shed He sits across the field of the dead, a slain Mali'kerr saddled underneath the wrap of a leather home. His destination was not far then, the home to a kind not of his own. All he could think of was the screams of the souls in the place he wished he'd never seen. The ruins of a realm he hoped were not of the one his body resided in. She was long gone, the princess. A companion that kept him afloat amid the violence. It had been months, years, since he'd heard of her last, after fated incidents caused them to go their separate ways; though truly, it was Him that pushed it to that point. He could no longer see the brightness in a smile, the serenity in the silence, a memory tampered by a curse; of which he was powerless to rebel against. The wind paced itself, coming to a halt, and yet all He could hear was the noise that embellished in the torment that glued itself to his mind. A damaged soul, he had. Irreparable. The noise became a battle to overcome, lurking in the depths of every step he took, every unsheathing of his blade, and every strike to take a life. A slow rise. He was weary, and he could no longer carry the corpse with him. He took its head and mummified it with mere cloth, a redness seeping through of how fresh it was. where was the silence? it no longer helped to strike, to thrust, it was all i could do yet it bore no flower to comfort my pain the space only shared by the stain "Compensation?" The one of Acalonn asked of him. A nod came next, and her words continued. "Fifty mina. Will that suffice?" Anything would, in his eyes. A second nod. He simply bore the head of the one she asked of; of which she never collected. A bag saddles in his palm and with a quick, careless look, a final nod was given. "The Monster of the East," she called. "I wish you luck. Until next time." His steel-toed steps gather before the soulless banker, a small deposit to accompany the rest born of the same essence. Blood money. The rewards he reaped in his occupation; a sellsword, a bounty hunter, yet all too meaningless with what kept him company beneath the visage of a helmet. This was his routine, his healing, however fruitless. Another poster to come again, a face, a name, a number was all it took. Anything to distract him from what truly disturbed the very essence of the man that once wished of a life so simple as to do as he willed, to survive another Ash day. where would i go? the sights no longer enticed it was all the same now, a cruel fate only known by I soon everything would come to a conclusion and i would be powerless to stop it The realm of all Highlanders welcomes him, everyday. Vindicated at every approach, stared at upon a seat taken, a silence atop another. Nothing tranquil ever came of it, but he wished for it to arrive someday, in hopes the silence webbed into his thoughts. "I am to be the baroness, soon!" A little one called. "A-and if that would not suffice, then-" The stammer of an innocence; eyes beading over the presence of a stranger. To her, he was strong. To him, she was weak. In the respite of a hearth bearing a flame that remained alight, his services were insisted. The middle child of the Moon City came before the armored one of a village long forgotten, basking in the space of his isolation. He wished to will the noise away, her presence to be ill remembered - only for a curiosity to birth, for the first time in the years since. A girl not older then fifteen-and-ten, gathering the strength to continue their approach. A wavering confidence, determined to see it through. "I will consider it." He willed to say, nothing more, nothing less. what do you see in me? a small noble brazen abashed and yet unbothered by the dark wishing to see a light beneath the helm i can only pray she will never see the embers surrounded me, yet she ushers it all away

A beggar stood in Balian's main square as the Azdrazi and their Heralds made preparations to heist the paladin's ship. He was a man who looked like he deserved a break, especially since he lived here. The herald gave him what little coin she had on her and asked that he would stay out of the trouble that would come. Balian wouldn't just let them take the ship without a fight... Surely...

The Nephilim Azli walked the city square of Balian trotting around, marching around each shop corner noticing the empty city- Few citizens harbored it, he was filled with a grievous frustration. "So mighty their words were!"

𝕿𝖔 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖁𝖎𝖑𝖊 𝖂𝖗𝖊𝖙𝖈𝖍𝖊𝖉 𝕭𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖆𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖊 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕰𝖓𝖌𝖑𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖊𝖓𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖙 "Do not kill Canonists, lest they be Balianese." "Sir they're all Balianese!" "Ah. Go ahead then." An open letter to the Paladin Order and their Vassal Balian: It is a saying in Luraq that the Craven surround the Craven; in other words, it is telling that the Paladin Order content to sit behind walls and hide whilst others fight for them chose to ally themselves with the grandest cowards upon the continent. A shame then, that when we requested the bells be rung to announce our presence, they were not. A shame also that we have stolen your ship. The Paladin Order will have to make due with the "Queen's Retribution" (See a Flaming Sea), should they wish to ever traverse off continent. Now the question you are asking yourselves, what will become of the Paladin's Vessel- the grandest ship in all Aevos? That is simple, it will join the fleet of Luraq in sailing under contract for the Azdrazi Banner. We have affectionally nicknamed it "The Enlightenment," though many have simply taken to calling it "The Azdromoth" or even "Luraqi Drop Party." I am quite fond of the latter. Remember next time you wish to make war upon them, that they now have a ship bearing 28 cannon and two ballistae over two decks. I would appreciate if you lot (the Paladins) would explain to X*n why you have tossed away every gift he has bestowed upon you. Perhaps it is true, as the Order is Married to X*n that they also feel a longing to cheat upon him with others? Much to think about, and much to contemplate. As always, a pleasure, Daahd'Lur, Saint-Slayer, Grand Kapo of Luraq, Admiral of Azdromoth.

The orcs Vizier was too busy to read the missive, which didn't matter as he was illiterate. He was engulfed in a bloody domestic situation with Klog. They both had beaten each other blue and the goblins were crying, screaming "ZTOP!!!"

THE HISTORIA PERTINAXI: Volume III; The Empire of Man Written by Justinian Nafis, Count of Susa and Adolphus Gloriana, Earl of Suffolk, Prince of Sutica The Empire of Man "As he gazed over the burning city, his look was iron. I could not tell if it was regret sewn into his rough features, or a determination to ensure that this bloodshed would not be in vain.” - An account of the aftermath of the Siege of White Peak from Menno Lehmann, a lieutenant in the Reiters As history has shown, any hopes that the First Atlas Coalition War would bring an end to the compounding problems of Aurelius’s reign were sorely misplaced. The toppling of one power in Norland had only brought the rise of another in Ostmark. Margrave Eimar had been loyal, yes, but his ambition was rivaled by few. As the men and women of the Royal State Army returned to their homes and farms, greeted by the open arms of their friends and families, the soldiers of Ostmark departed theirs, destined for another apple of their liege’s eye. This time, the feud was between Margrave Eimar and Mariusz Horen, Margrave of Styria. Margrave Mariusz, a distant cousin of Aurelius, had defended the southern border against Haense. With the lands of House var Burgundar now expanded to include Curon, the two fiefs bordered each other. The neighboring margraves were both proud, ambitious men, two traits that appeared to filter down to their soldiers. It is unknown who started the conflict (both sides accused the other), but most scholars are certain that a dispute arose over the possession of a mill that lay within the bounds of one Margrave of Styria’s estates; the mill’s owner was a Curonian who lived in the port town of Arbor, one of the properties of the Margrave of Ostmark. Fighting broke out between the two lords in 1663. Initially it was centered around the disputed mill, but it soon grew to encompass a number of towns, ports, and farms along the Czena River. Margrave Eimar got the better of these early battles, but just as it seemed like he was going to take control of eastern Styria, Sir Konrad Nzech, one of Prince Antonius’s experienced subordinates, arrived with two hundred Royal State Army veterans to reinforce the Margrave Mariusz. Denied a quick victory, Margrave Eimar made thinly-veiled accusations that Prince Antonius had ordered Sir Konrad to aid his cousin. Aurelius initially turned a blind eye to the small war developing in the south. It was his policy to allow disputes between his vassals to be handled between themselves in times of peace. The ideal Renatian man, an image that the realm’s king tried to cultivate of himself and his sons, was a warrior whose passions ran hot and whose pride allowed no offense to be suffered. These sorts of men, who had proven to be valuable in creating a well-functioning war machine, needed to release their bloodlust through violent, but acceptable, forms of combat resolution. It was a system that Aurelius had no wish to insert the Crown into, no doubt because of the memories of the Riga War, which had seen Emperor John II tip the scales of civil conflict and suffer greatly for it. At first, this method seemed to play out well. Fighting had died down by the spring of 1664 and Margrave Eimar had withdrawn from a few of Margrave Mariusz’s estates. Their armies still heavily patrolled their own possessions, and at times postured against one another in chess-like battles of maneuvering, but there was little fighting to speak of. Unbeknownst to all of Renatus-Marna, it was this brief period of peace that proved to be the most dangerous. The south of the realm, at the fringes of the Heartlands, was the most thinly-populated. An important duty of the two margraves was to see to the general security of the region from the threat of bandits, something that a war between the two, which required their units along the border at all times, was unconducive towards. Reiver mercenaries who had fled Norland after the First Atlas Coalition War saw opportunity in this region that was increasingly slipping from Renatian law. Throughout 1663 they had united many of the bandits and deserter bands in the area under their flag, and by the next year they had constructed a number of small keeps and fortified camps in the southern Heartlands. Most notorious of them all was Small Tower, a crude but well-placed tower along the Yodeling Crossroads that enabled them to rob traders and strike at a number of Curonian towns: Cyrilsburg, Ashwood, and Arbor all faced significant attacks during the year. The depth of Aurelius’s mistake became clear when a delegation from Arbor arrived at the court of Senntisten and petitioned for him to personally intervene. Trade had plummeted in the region, even the largest cities were the subject of raids, and the two marcher lords tasked with local defense were busier with keeping the other in check. If there was no intervention from the central government, the south would fall out of Renatus-Marna’s grasp entirely. Exasperated at the thought of returning to war so soon, but also growing paranoid as each day of continued Reiver presence of the south brought more tales of the absence of royal order- Aurelius’s personal physician, Jeshua Bright, noted that he had begun to grow his first grey hairs. He assembled an army of ten thousand and sent words to the southern margraves, ordering them to cease their hostilities and direct their efforts on eradicating the Reiver presence in their lands. After once again assigning Crown Prince Constantine to rule the capital in his stead, Aurelius marched south to restore order to the fringes of his realm. The Bandit War, which lasted from 1664-1668, was yet another conflict that revolved around guerilla warfare. Prince Antonius and Prince Tiberius were each given a part of the army to assist the two southern margraves. Meanwhile, their father oversaw operations from Arbor and made sure to be an active presence, something that was rare for him, in order to emphasize the restoration of his royal authority in the region. 1664 initially started well, but Prince Antonius was wounded from a crossbow bolt while storming a camp in the Monger Forest, where Reiver presence was high, and camp fever at the end of the year struck Prince Tiberius and many of his officers. Both princes returned to Senntisten to recover, which meant that Aurelius had to join the army and lead it himself. It was in 1665, while his best generals and officers were recovering in the capital, that the war began to unravel. Most of the year had gone well, and the sixty-two year old monarch had shown a good degree of vigor and zest as he had cleared most of the Monger Forest of Reiver presence. Just as it looked that the bandits were about to be wiped out, the margraves Eimar and Mariusz reignited their feud over who would come to own a logging camp that they had jointly captured. When Aurelius ruled in favor of Margrave Mariusz, Margrave Eimer and his soldiers withdrew to Cyrilsburg in a rage, and they accused the king of favoring his family over his most proven subjects. Seeing the internal division within the Renatian ranks, the Reivers regrouped around Small Tower. With an army of four thousand, they started constructing various siege weapons to appear as if they were preparing to besiege Arbor. Aurelius took the bait and marched his army, which was twice as large, to Small Tower and ordered Margrave Mariusz and Margrave Eimar to join him in what could be the killing blow to the Reivers. Margrave Mariusz attempted to join his cousin, but he was ambushed by another force of Reivers and had to retreat to Styria. Margrave Eimar simply ignored the orders and kept his army at Cyrilsburg. Angered but undaunted- he still possessed numerical superiority- the King of Renatus-Marna pressed the attack on Small Tower. The Battle of Small Tower, fought on the 13th of Tobias’s Bounty, 1665, was one of the most disastrous defeats in Pertinaxi history and a black mark on Aurelius’s military career. Expecting reinforcements from Styria and Ostmark, the king waited the morning hours away, keeping his soldiers in formation while Reiver skirmishers pelted them with arrows from across the battlefield. Few perished from this, but the horses of the front line's knights became distressed by the storm of projectiles. For hours, Aurelius resisted the urging of his knights to order a charge against the smaller Reiver army, but as noon came and the additional forces he had been waiting for had not arrived, he made the order the charge as he believed that the opportunity at hand ought not to be wasted. This was exactly what the Reivers had wanted. Having chosen the battlefield, just a few miles from Small Tower, they had plenty of time to litter the field with traps. While the area of the battle was mostly flat, there was a small incline leading up to the first line of Reiver archers, which was protected by spiked stakes. Leading up to this line, they had dug a long trench which they then covered. When the first few lines of Renatian cavalry were within meters of the archers, being pelted with arrows all the way, their horses were tripped by this trench and sent sprawling. According to Captain Markus Johannsson, one of the members of Aurelius’s staff, a jam was created by the halted first line, which dulled the charge. Reivers surged forth, causing panic within the confused mass of Renatian knights. As they helplessly tried to retreat, the backlog of riders prevented them from doing so, and many were cut down. Aurelius, a few leagues away, reluctantly sounded for a retreat, but a small force of Reiver cavalry, hidden behind their ranks until now, were sent forward to harass the Renatian foot. Retreat gave way to rout, and by the day’s end only half of the initial eight thousand that Aurelius led to Small Tower returned to the safety of Arbor. It was a crushing blow, by far the worst that he had suffered so far. Aurelius’s humiliation at his defeat was matched only by his anger towards Margrave Eimar’s betrayal. In the day after the Battle of Small Tower, the king's closest advisors saw him lose his temper- a rare thing- and promise to execute Margrave Eimar for his crimes. Although they all advised him to allow his soldiers time to rest, or wait for reinforcements from Margrave Mariusz, the king refused and marched to Cyrilsburg with his Dragon Knights and a hundred knights who had not been wounded at Small Tower. Margrave Eimar planned to mount a resistance, but the city watch of Cyrilsburg had little love for him and the soldiers of White Peak. They let Aurelius and his soldiers inside, whereupon, after a brief fight in the streets, they surrounded and captured the margrave. The Margrave of Ostmark, one of the most ambitious men in Atlas, and a rising force in realm, was hanged in the center of Cyrilsburg on the 20th of Grand Harvest, 1665, just a week after he had left his liege to face defeat at Small Tower. Because of the swiftness of his retribution, Aurelius had not planned for what would come after, nor had he drafted the official documentation. As a temporary order, he put Margrave Mariusz in charge of Curon and Ostmark while he and his army returned home to Senntisten to recuperate and rebuild their strength. Once again displaying the mercy that had served him well in the Heartlands and in Norland, the king must have hoped that any disruption brought by Margrave Eimar could be sufficiently combatted by a return to normalcy. Instead, he had inadvertently created the conditions for the most serious rebellion to his reign to date. Aldyth of White Peak, widow of Margrave Eimar, was distraught at her husband’s death. As glory-seeking as her husband was, she had dreams of wearing a royal crown that had now been crushed by the King of Renatus-Marna. Two of her four sons had died in the brief war against Margrave Mariusz, and another from camp fever during the Siege of Ruriksgrad. With the survival of House var Burgundar threatened, and revenge on the mind of those from White Peak, Lady Aldyth sought to uplift the one man left in Atlas who could challenge Aurelius’s rule: Tobias Staunton. The only surviving portrait that is believed to depict Aldyth of White Peak, c. 1678. In the years after her death, a small cult formed around her memory, but it was eventually disbanded by the Governor of White Peak on Aurelius’s orders. In the years since the fall of the Kingdom of Courland 1615, House Staunton had remained active in the political scene, albeit in a quieter role. Left with only a few of their properties, and far diminished in their influence, they had quietly lived as the provincial nobility of a number of more powerful players. During the settlement of Atlas, the family had come into the good graces of the Duke Karl of Curon, himself a younger son of Tobias the Conqueror, who granted them several estates. While talk of the restoration of Courland was always tossed around the realm, and a strong pro-Staunton faction in court held sway, there was never any serious attempt to uplift the first descendants of the great conqueror of Axios. Born in 1646, Tobias Staunton, great-grandson of his namesake, represented this newest hope of the Courlandic restorationists. Present in court, if never notable, he bore a strong resemblance to the Conqueror, and many believed him to be Tobias-born-again, drawing on a legend that had formed after Courland’s collapse that its beloved king would rise from the grave to save them again. Tobias of Cyrilsburg need not have been raised from the grave, but he was seen by many as the future of a new Courland. Lady Aldyth was certainly privy to this talk around the enigmatic heir of House Staunton. In the waning days of 1665, she summoned Tobias Staunton to White Peak. The contents of their discussion are unknown, but afterwards she named him the heir of Curon and White Peak. Her death a few days later, from causes unknown but speculated to be anything from poison to a broken heart, made the young Tobias Staunton one of the most powerful men in the realm. Beloved by old Courlanders within Curon and with the inheritance of White Peak, his name alone commanded loyalty and adoration that even Margrave Eimar could only hope for. On the 17th of Sun’s Smile, 1666, he held a hasty coronation in White Peak where he revealed his possession of Tobias the Conqueror’s old crown, had a local priest put it atop his head, and named himself King Tobias II of Courland. Invoking the name of Tobias may have brought the new King of Courland a surge of support, which he dearly needed in his early, quite sudden, rule, but leagues away, in the halls of Senntisten, the King of Renatus-Marna and his council deliberated on plans of war. House Staunton had proven to be one of the deadliest enemies of the Horens, and in his own coronation King Tobias had pledged to liberate the Courlanders from Pertinaxi rule. Thousands within Tobias II’s days-old realm had begun to enlist in military service, and many realms around White Peak had begun to declare their support for Courlandic independence. The Kingdom of Haense, the Council of Hammers, a collection of dwarven tribes, the Duchy of Neveria, the Duchy of Rivia, and the Reivers all pledged to join King Tobias in a unified war against Renatus-Marna. Aurelius wasted little time assembling a response. He called upon his allies- Santegia, Krugmar, and the Dominion of Malin- to rally their forces. Prince Charles was recalled from Norland and ordered to aid Prince Antonius in training new regiments of the Royal State Army to replenish the ranks that had been lost at Small Tower. For the greater part of the year, Aurelius waited and allowed his strength to gather around Senntisten. He would not make the same mistake he had at Small Tower. If he was going to march against Courland, it would be with a well-prepared army. Fortunately for Renatus-Marna, Tobias II had inherited only his name from the great conqueror of generations past. Untrained in matters of war or rulership, having only the most basic of an education as rural nobles had, the young king proved to be inept at handling his own military or diplomatic situation. Ostmark and Curon’s armies had yet to be merged into one unified force, and his many allies around the south effectively operated on their own. Throughout 1666, when he had an opportunity to march against Styria, which would be a decisive blow to Aurelius’s southern border, he simply waited. He relied mostly on his chancellor, Wilhelm von Manstein, to manage the affairs of government while he excused himself from council meetings to hunt. Meanwhile, the far more experienced Aurelius had done the opposite. His armies were incessantly drilled and organized over the course of 1666, and he used his fresher forces to wreak havoc on his enemies. The Black Reiters burned fields and villages across Curon and Haense, their job made all the easier by the lack of resistance that they encountered. Many of Tobias’s men deserted his army to protect their homes, depriving him of bodies he desperately needed. Their greatest catch came on the 1st of the Grand Harvest, 1666, when they were able to reach the poorly-defended Haeseni capital of Markev. It was there that the new King of Haense, Franz II, was being crowned. With the gates of the city wide open, and his only security detail armed with mostly ceremonial weapons, the Reiters stormed Markev and in a brief, bloody battle captured the King of Haense. He was brought back to Senntisten where Aurelius demanded he either withdraw from the war or submit to him- sources are divided as to which it was- but King Franz refused. Before the jeering court of Senntisten, Aurelius beheaded the newly-made king on the floors of his throne room. The people of Haense decried this as a wanton act of bloodlust and a great dishonor, but they were also now deprived of a capable leader to manage the war. As much power as the name Tobias Staunton had carried, and as much as the banner of their eagle saw thousands flock to it, neither could alleviate the mismanagement of the war. In 1667, Prince Antonius marched south to the lands of the Reivers with an army of four thousand. After joining forces with Margrave Mariusz, the two of them soundly defeated the isolated bandits at the Battle of Hickory Hills on the 21st of Owyn’s Flame, for Tobias II had failed to reinforce his allies in time. Small Tower was burned and over the following months the last of the Reiver strongholds in the region were captured and destroyed. With the Reiver threat diminished, Aurelius and the rest of his combined army marched to the border with Courland. It was then divided into three parts. The first, led by Prince Charles and Prince Tiberius, was to drive south to White Peak, King Tobias’s seat, and subdue it. The second, led by Prince Antonius, was to put Cyrilsburg to siege. The third, led by Aurelius, would descend upon Arbor and also fortify the southern border in the event that Haense attacked from there. In the autumn of 1667 this plan was put into motion and the rebellious Courland was invaded. Facing minimal resistance, all three armies reached their targets in weeks and began the process of besieging. The Siege of White Peak, beginning on the 19th of Tobias’s Bounty, 1667, was the decisive engagement of the war, but it had truthfully been decided before it began. With twelve thousand soldiers of the Royal State Army and of the orcish tribes of Krugmar, Prince Charles and Prince Tiberius had little to fear from the seven thousand hastily-conscripted levies and city watchmen, bolstered by some contingents from Courland’s allies, that stood atop the walls. In what the Renatian soldiers mockingly called the "Siege of Red Peak", Prince Tiberius had a stunning array of trebuchets built, some accounts say as many as thirty, that slung rocks and boulders into the city from dawn until dusk. Nearly the entire city was leveled, killing thousands from the damages, fires, and starvation. While an outbreak of dysentery, and harassment from a Haeseni army sent to relieve the city, did cause some disruption in the besieging ranks, the loss was minimal and the morale of White Peak’s defenders plummeted. None were so demoralized as Tobias II himself. Not raised in the mold of a warrior, he shunned the ramparts of his capital for fear of being struck by one of the flung projectiles. Hiding in the basements of his palace, he no doubt wondered what had gone wrong. Just two years ago he had invigorated the spirits of the Pertinaxi’s foes with his emergence, promising a return of a soldier equal to his great-grandfather. Now, he huddled within the safety of his wine cellars, the king of a realm that was in the process of being occupied with his soldiers and citizens dying around him. Knowing that his capture meant death, he resolved to escape, and on the night of the 5th of Godfrey’s Triumph, 1668, he snuck out of his city to flee west to Haense. He did not get very far, and the next morning he was found dead, impaled in a spiked pit trap that some of Prince Charles’s orcs had made to ward off their Haeseni harassers. King Tobias’s body was paraded to the defenders of White Peak, whose spirits fell as they saw that their king had not only absconded, but had died in the process. They held out for some time longer, but they capitulated two weeks later, on the 17th of Godfrey’s Triumph. White Peak lay in ruins, with only its walls and some of its palace intact, but those too were torn down on the orders of Prince Charles, leaving only rubble where the powerful seat of the var Burgundars had once been. He and Prince Tiberius divided their army again, marching on the city of Ashwood and the keep of Jornburg, respectively, in the Duchy of Neveria. The Siege of White Peak proved, definitively, that supporting the Stauntons had been a great error. The Council of Hammers withdrew from the war and returned to their mountains in the south of Atlas. The Duchy of Rivia, far on the icy southeastern shores of the continent, pledged to support Aurelius, though, much like with King Tobias, their support only went so far as unkept promises to provide soldiers. King Sigmar of Haense, who ascended to the throne after his uncle’s death, officially remained in the war but withdrew his armies to defend his realm. Only Neveria and the lands of Curon remained standing. As Prince Charles and Prince Tiberius were turning White Peak red, the other two Renatian armies were facing far more comfortable battles to the north. Aurelius, leading eight thousand soldiers from mostly allied contingents (Santegia and the Dominion of Malin along with his Reiters and Dragon Knights), had put Arbor to siege at the end of 1667. Arbor, more friendly to Renatus-Marna than any other of the cities of Curon or Ostmark, negotiated their surrender early into 1668, on the 4th of Harren’s Folly. Few had perished in the siege and their punishment was light; ten years’ tribute and the surrender of some hostages was their toll. Aurelius then positioned his army to guard the south and directed many raids into Haeseni lands. Prince Antonius and Margrave Mariusz, leading an army of twelve thousand made up of soldiers from Norland, Adria, and Styria, faced stiffer resistance at Cyrilsburg than Aurelius had at Arbor, but it was still not the bloodbath that had occurred at White Peak. The siege lasted well into 1669, as Cyrilsburg’s walls were strong, its defenders well-organized, and its granaries well-stocked. Prince Antonius led several failed assaults against the walls, but when news of White Peak’s fall and King Tobias’s death arrived, the end was in sight. The defenders of Cyrilsburg tried to keep their spirits up and fight in the memory of the extinguished Staunton name, but on the 15th of Sun’s Smile, 1669, they too surrendered. Punishment was relatively light here too, only some of the principal supporters of Tobias II were executed, and Sir Konrad Nzech was appointed as governor of the region. Seeing his allies fall one by one, and knowing that resistance was futile, King Sigmar of Haense agreed to a peace with Renatus-Marna. The terms were mild, requiring only a few years of tribute payments and the destruction of several of Haense’s castles along their northern border. It was said by Tuvya Barrow, a scribe in service of the King of Haense, that his liege had “strived to make a good impression on the Lord of the Pertinaxi, knowing that it would only be a few years before the continent was his.” The war was rounded out in the month of Sigismund’s End, 1669, when both Jornburg and Ashwood fell. Sir Landry Cantel, one of Aurelius’s Dragon Knights, was made governor of the region and tasked with managing its integration into Renatus-Marna. While the Second Atlas Coalition War, also known as the Staunton Uprising, has mostly been described as a rebellion and a war to restore Pertinaxi authority over Curon and Ostmark, it did see the conquest of the petty lands of Neveria, which once again expanded the realm. Initially a great danger to his rule, Tobias II’s rebellion proved to be a whimper of what his ancestor had managed. Within three years another coalition against Renatus-Marna had been smashed, Curon and Ostmark had been brought to heel, and Aurelius had reaffirmed his position as the most powerful man on the continent. In 1670, when a rebellion flared up in the Duchy of Rivia, he sent several Reiters and Dragon Knights to support the pro-Renatian rebels against the Duke of Rivia. While the war there would be long, owing to the treacherously cold, inhospitable climate, Rivia would be made another vassal of the Pertinaxi by 1685. From the end of the Second Atlas Coalition War in 1669 to the beginning of the Third Atlas Coalition War in 1689, Aurelius saw the longest period of relative peace he had known in his life. There were skirmishes out west with the tribes of the snow elves and the occasional rural rebellion, but no threat as serious as the wars in Norland or Courland emerged. It was in these twenty years of peace that Aurelius, even in his old age (he was sixty six at the start of it), experienced great change in his life and style of rule. Aurelius had conquered most of the Heartlands, and even beyond, but now it was time for him to adjust from a warrior, one with victories to boast beside John III, John I, and even Tobias the Conqueror, to an administrator and diplomat. While the violence on the field of battle had ended for a time, the challenges in Aurelius’s life had not ended. He was an authoritative presence while on campaign, a king who commanded the respect of his subjects and the fear of his enemies (and his subjects), but his household was constantly in disarray. He relied on his sons often, especially in times of war, but his relationship with them all, save Antonius, was strained. Of his many family members, councilors, and allies, only his wife, Queen Theodosia, had his full confidence. Queen Theodosia, an enigma to history, was as much a shadow to the people of her husband’s realm as she is to modern historians. Not one for the spectacle of court, she rarely left her family’s palaces and estates. Some have taken this and assumed that her place in Pertinaxi history was minimal, as has been charged of many women of the age, but recent discoveries suggest this to not be the case. Far better-educated than her husband, comparisons of her handwriting and official missives and letters dictated by Aurelius suggest that she often functioned as his scribe. It is known that Aurelius enjoyed reading, but he was poor at it and his eyes were known to grow tired, so it was Theodosia who read to him on quiet evenings and rainy afternoons. Scholars have begun to investigate how much sway she had over Renatian policy, but a dearth of sources have left this field of inquiry difficult to pursue much. Part of why Aurelius only felt that he could trust his wife is doubtless due to the conduct and scandal of his son, Crown Prince Constantine. Himself another mystery of the age, his lack of presence on the battlefield has made the man who was the heir of Aurelius a critically understudied figure. However, as these authors have shown, he played an important role as his father’s regent during the Czena Conflict, and the first two Atlas Coalition Wars. In this time he had amassed a critical alliance network in the court of Senntisten and shored up support among the provincial nobility and in places like Adria. He did not enjoy much love from the army, that was to be certain, but he was respected enough as an able diplomat and administrator who could, in the worst of cases, rely on his brothers for their military expertise. Unknown to Aurelius at the time, Crown Prince Constantine chafed at his role as Archchancellor and was constantly paranoid that he would be replaced. Prince Antonius was adored across the realm as a handsome, skilled knight and a general who had brought victory after victory. Prince Tiberius, a far more reserved figure, still had a good reputation as a master of siege warfare. The Crown Prince, while respected within the bureaucracy and some of the nobility, never had the same love nor received the same honors as his brothers. Whether it was his father removing him as heir, or one of his brothers overthrowing him, he acted with a rash urge to save his position. It is not precisely known when Crown Prince Constantine first started to undermine his father’s rule, but the first documented instance comes with the invasion of southern Norland in 1660. Wydren Volaren, by all accounts a decent, but never remarkable, general, had thoroughly outmaneuvered Prince Antonius and was only defeated when forced into battle at the Sleeping Swamps by King Godden Ruric. Uncovered letters from the attic of a dead Reiver in Ves, found in 1707, show correspondence between the Crown Prince and Wydren Volaren dating from 1659-1660. In one series of letters, the Crown Prince gave the Volaren general his father’s campaign plans in exchange for a promise of support from the Reivers in the event of a succession dispute. The second instance was his elevation of both Duke John of Adria and Margrave Eimar of Ostmark during the war against Norland. While the former was believed to be a result of an overzealous response to the problems in Belvitz, and the latter had his father’s seal of approval, both clearly saw Crown Prince Constantine handpicking men who he believed would support him in a war of succession as a result of his patronage. While neither men were directly involved in any such plotting, it is accepted by historians that they had a more favorable disposition towards the Crown Prince than most other vassals. The third instance was during the Second Atlas Coalition War. The reorganization of the Haeseni archives in 1789 revealed correspondence between Crown Prince Constantine and Matthew Colborn, the Palatine of Haense, dating to 1667. In it the Renatian Archchancellor had revealed the sizes of his father’s armies in the field and cautioned Haense against mobilizing strongly and pursuing a vigorous relief of the many sieges in Courland. Some have argued that this played a significant factor in King Sigmar’s decision to pursue a defensive policy during the war, but others believe that he had already made up his mind before then. While no overt agreement was made like in his letter to the Reivers, the implication was clear: he was fielding Haeseni support in the event of war. The fourth and final known instance, ironically the least consequential, yet the one that revealed his disloyalty, came when he was found to be using funds from the state treasury to manage outstanding expenses coming from his estates in 1671. While this was no great crime in and of itself, his only fault had been not marking this information in the budget, the sheer scale of the payments far exceeded the usual estate expenses. An investigation led by Aran Talraen, the Seneschal of Senntisten and a sound mind with finances, traced these embezzled funds to hiring of various mercenary companies. When questioned, Crown Prince Constantine claimed that they were only for defense, but when he was summoned to the Royal Council again the next day for further questioning, he was found to have fled. Crown Prince Constantine sought refuge in the court of Haense, where he had curried some favor, and was reluctantly accepted by King Sigmar, but his connections back home had severed. His estates were confiscated, he was dispossessed of his inheritance by his father, and he was named a criminal of the realm to be apprehended if found. As he had no progeny able to inherit due to his morganatic marriage with a woman from Ghanya, he and his line were, as he had been vainly trying to avoid with his treason, swept aside for Prince Antonius. A few years later, in 1678, he would die in obscurity in a manor in rural Haense, the furthest he had ever been from the throne he coveted. His heir’s betrayal was no great personal blow for Aurelius, like with much of his family, the two had never been close, but it did cause him to mistrust his other two sons. While all of the realm clamored for Prince Antonius to be named Archchancellor, it was Prince Charles, a far less charismatic man, though no less astute of a mind, with a less enforceable claim to the throne. Prince Antonius remained a valued counsel for his father, and he remained Grand Marshal of the army, but he would never be given a position so valuable as Archchancellor. Constantine had been corrupt, and his treason is well-established in historical fact, but he had managed to cobble together something resembling a state bureaucracy from the warlike nobility and unenthusiastic clergy that inhabited Renatus-Marna. Prince Charles was a strong diplomat and could handle the nobility of the realm with a firm hand, but the tedious matters of administration bored him. With a lack of trained officials, or even the thought to educate young aristocrats in civil service, as military service was far prioritized as a means of ascending the social hierarchy, many posts were filled by officers’ wives and the inept third sons of rural gentry, neither of whom had the education or experience necessary. Archives were lost, mislabeled, or contained outright inaccuracies and forgeries. Tax collection was irregular, and it was only the plunder of foreign conquests and raids that sustained the Pertinaxi treasury, which in turn went to fuel continuing wars of expansion. Governance outside of the realm’s major cities was underfunded and corrupt as local lords and underpaid officials took bribes and extorted subjects. Banditry was quite common away from garrisons and centers of power, and at times it was alleged that frontier soldiers officially in the employ of the Royal State Army took part. There was very little oversight on vassals and governors during this period, and so long as they remained loyal and provided soldiers for campaigns, they were mostly left to their own devices, for better or worse. Adrians, and specifically their Lodenlander population, were some of the only Imperial subjects that were well-studied in finances and mathematics. They were highly sought after as scribes, tax collectors, engineers, and other official posts throughout the realm. Aurelius, like most of his councilors, was ill-suited to the monotony of daily governance, but he did make an effort. He rarely held council meetings, preferring instead to act indirectly through secretaries to dictate orders to various ministers. When the occasional meeting was held, he was direct and to the point. Meandering conversations and long-winded asides bothered him. While he invested heavily in an intelligence network and took time to hear rumors from around the realm, he himself never engaged in gossip with his ministers and other members of the court as most monarchs were wont to do. Once he gave his orders and outlined a broad objective for what he wanted to be achieved, he gave his officers the space needed and only expected reports after the fact, which he looked over with diligence. While not thought of by history as a man taken to much leisure, the truth is that Aurelius’s style of rule allowed much of it. He never delayed or rested during a crisis, nor did he outright delegate extreme authority to Prince Charles or anyone else- he expected to have the final say on almost all government matters- but his loose handling of his government, especially in these years of peace, allowed him to visit his estates and palaces outside of the capital. He had never been one for court life, nor had Queen Theodosia for that matter, and he was perfectly content to allow his royal court to wither into virtual nonexistence in Senntisten, save for his occasional appearance before the assembled nobility of the realm to address matters of important, so that he could devote his time to hunting in his royal forests and fishing in his well-stocked lakes. These were simple, quiet activities that he often enjoyed in solace, though his wife frequently joined him and he sometimes brought along various ministers and family members to his countryside excursions if he felt that policy would have to be addressed there. The one area where Aurelius was most active, besides the army, was in diplomacy. He never conducted diplomacy on his own, for he did not possess the eloquent, nuanced tongue needed for it, but, like in war, he had the mind for building a great strategy for others to execute. Unlike most others of the age, he saw war not as a good for its own end, but instead as a tool to achieve the true victory: a favorable settlement at the diplomatic table. It was a thinly-veiled secret, especially after he became King of Marna, that he desired to unite humanity and restore the Empire; one of the first statues he had built of him in Senntisten depicted him triumphantly standing atop a globe. It was a mix of victory on the battlefield and a firm, but not tyrannical, hand that had brought him Marna, Norland, Curon, Ostmark, and dozens more petty fiefdoms, but he did not allow himself to rest after these. Despite the urging of many to take the Imperial Crown, Aurelius believed that only in bringing Haense could he claim to have matched the feats of the previous Emperors. The opportunity came in 1678. King Sigmar of Haense, who took the crown after Aurelius slew his uncle, Franz II, twelve years earlier, had been put to the impossible task of repairing a fractured, isolated realm. Lords fell outside of the crown’s control, bandits, some with connections back to Renatus-Marna, scourged his roads, and his weakening authority was challenged at every turn. In 1672 he had marched an army of eight thousand against one of his rebellious vassals, the Countess of Leeuwenhof, only to face a shattering defeat from a small company of mercenaries. A set of payment documents uncovered in 1779 showed that the man leading this band of ‘mercenaries’ was one of Aurelius’s Dragon Knights. This defeat showed the dire need for reform within Haense, but King Sigmar had neither the security nor the funding to set about doing so. While Aurelius had covertly accelerated the process of undermining King Sigmar’s authority, he had also openly shown a friendlier face. In 1676 he and Kairn Ithelanen destroyed a Haeseni rebel group known as the Red Cloaks in a battle outside Belvitz, relieving King Sigmar of serious internal pressure at such a crucial time. He also increased the number of diplomats and functionaries in Markev and ensured that they had a constant presence at the king’s court there. After a series of defaults in the Haeseni treasury in 1673, 1674, and 1677, Aurelius sent Prince Charles with his offer. In exchange for taking on Haeseni debt, extending army patrols further south, and providing general security for the Barbanov Crown, Sigmar I would swear himself to Aurelius. With few other options, and not adverse to the Pertinaxi as his predecessors had been, the King of Haense agreed. On the 1st of Sun’s Smile, 1678, in a great ceremony in Senntisten, Sigmar I knelt before Aurelius in the great palace hall and recited his oath of vassalage to great applause from the realm’s assembled nobility. Then, the crown of John V, taken during the Sack of Adelburg and kept in a vault, was brought before Aurelius by a company of priests. After a number of speeches, prayers, and sacraments, all of which have been lost to record, as the chronicler tasked with recording the event, the fifth son of a landholding knight, was functionally illiterate, the crown of John V was lifted atop Aurelius’s head and he was proclaimed Emperor of Man. Almost all of the human world had been brought under this new Empire, and what had not would soon come. The new Emperor had come a long way from his origins at Doggersden in 1603, but now, at the ripe old age of seventy four, he had finally unified what had been broken almost forty years before. As the Empire exploded in size, bringing in humans from across the known world, Aurelius had plans made to rebuild Senntisten, which was straining behind its walls. Constructions started a few months after his reign, and by 1680 a fresh, modern capital had been constructed. He renamed the city to Carolustadt in honor of his father, and to mark the transition away from Renatus-Marna to the Empire of Man. Uplifted by the winds of reforming Orenia, the Emperor of Man resolved to build a realm not only connected by his armies and the strength of his ability to enforce his will, but by shared institutions. Ambitious and innovative in scale, most of these reforms were only half-realized by the time of his death in 1694. With both the bureaucracy and intellectual sphere left complete underdeveloped by the constant need for soldiers, soldiers, and more soldiers, and the loose manner of governance that Aurelius preferred, there simply were not enough capable minds to put together many of the far-reaching reforms that Aurelius had hoped for. The most egregious example was the Imperial Parliament formed in 1686. The experiment of the young, liberal-minded noblemen Prince Alexander Horen, son of the Archchancellor, Prince Charles, and Edward Morris, his scribe, this unicameral legislature was designed to give a voice to the people of the Empire in legislative affairs. In theory, it would allow them an appropriate outlet to air their grievances and feel as if they were a part of a great, pan-human political project. The first elections in 1687, which were open to every property-owning Imperial citizen, saw a strong turnout of sixty five thousand voters. The Common Civic Party, a liberal, constitutionalist faction based primarily out of Haense and Belvitz, won the majority of the nineteen seats, followed closely by the Priorist Party, an ultramonarchist, human supremacist faction based out of Carolustadt that sought to undermine the Imperial Parliament and return to the direct rule of the Emperor and his council. The people of the Empire had spoken, it seemed, and they had chosen a more liberal course of action and seemed relatively invested in this democratic project. The 1687 elections would prove to be the high point of the Imperial Parliament. While Prince Alexander and Edward Morris, who was now the Speaker of the Parliament, had originally dreamed up a powerful body able to handle much of the legislative affairs that the Emperor and his council were reluctant to undertake, the final version of their drafts was a far cry from their original intent. The Imperial Parliament only had the power to propose legislation, not pass it, and review the actions of government ministers, but not impeach them. Aside from a handful of bills that outlined plans to build roads around the Empire, the vast majority of the legislation that was approved related to military funding in one way or another. The Priorist Party also complicated matters by being openly obstructionist during sessions of the parliament and attacking representatives who tried to hold hearings for ministers accused of corruption. Turnout dwindled as the Imperial Parliament increasingly came to be seen as a rubber stamp for the Emperor, and after 1693 it was little more than another advisory body. More successful were the army reforms undertaken by Prince Antonius in 1679, which resulted in the creation of the Imperial Legion. Far more meritocratic than the Royal State Army, it was one of the few institutions that those of lower rank could see themselves ascend the social hierarchy. Men and women from across the Empire flocked to it, making it the most powerful fighting force in Atlas and one of the few Imperial institutions that could credibly claim to be a unifying body for all subjects of the Empire. Enlistment exploded, and by 1684 the Imperial Legion had grown twice as large as the Royal State Army at its height. The (Renatian) Imperial Legion, one of the most vaunted armies in history, saw little in the way of defeat during its life. Although its formation came after most of Aurelius’s significant wars, it remained active in many smaller border conflicts against the tribes of Fenn, who remained a constant thorn in the Empire’s side, the City of Sutica, which was an object of conquest by one of the Emperor’s Dragon Knights, the Duchy of Rivia and its aforementioned rebellion, and the many wars between the elves and orcs far in the north, which saw, more often than not, soldiers aiding the Dominion. The propaganda of the state was critical to maintaining Pertinaxi rule. Aurelius was fine with being thought of as a tyrant or a warmonger, for he firmly believed that, above all, it was the reputation of victory that kept his vassals in line. Monuments were built at the site of his victories. Statues of himself and other members of the Imperial family were required in every major city of the Empire. Paintings and murals depicting his triumphs adorned his courtroom, turning it from a dull, grey scene into one vivid with the sights of battle. Records of his defeat at Small Tower were scrubbed, and it was often proclaimed that the Renatians were undefeated in battle. A law was also passed that forbade all cities of the Empire to have a statue that was equal in size or larger than its statue of Aurelius, with exceptions being given to those of saints or of the Exalted. While Aurelius never saw any significant resistance to his rule during his time, save for the Staunton Uprising, many scholars have tried to attribute this primarily to his propaganda, suggesting even that his Empire was far weaker than he let on, and the facade of his legions’ domination was one that would not have withstood the test of a true, pan-Imperial rebellion. This is a silly notion, these authors believe. During his time, Aurelius’s propaganda was often subject to ridicule, not admiration, for it was wholly needless. Most of his subjects were well-aware of the extent of his power, especially in the city centers where most of this propaganda was centered. Those who resided in the Imperial frontiers, in the many farms and villages that went overlooked by the government, were blissfully unaware of any source of authority beyond their liege lord. A statue of Aurelius in the Norlandic town of Hofn. While the local jarl knew what the Emperor looked like, having been an ally of his in the First Atlas Coalition War, he had the statue designed in the style of a Norlandic paragon. It was common for statues of Aurelius to be fashioned in the style of the local culture, either as reverence or as mockery. In a humorous episode, relayed to us by Soren Bracchus, a lion tamer in the service of a circus based out of Belvitz, Duke John of Adria, who liked to push the boundaries of the law for sport. In the center of Belvitz, Duke John built two statues, one of Aurelius and the other, of a slightly larger size, of a man who others swore looked quite familiar to the paintings of Duke Franz of Adria, Duke John’s ancestor, in the latter’s estates. When an Imperial patrol came by some weeks later, its commander questioned Duke John about the mysterious statue and why it was larger than that of his Emperor. "It is a statue of my ancestor, the Exalted Sigismund, you see. We Adrians have always thought that he looked a good deal like our Duke Franz,” said Duke John. The patrol commander accepted his explanation and it was never questioned again. Even if his reforms were met with mixed results, they were inconsequential when taken in consideration with the Empire’s continued diplomatic victories. First, Aurelius’s faithful and capable cousin, King Leo of Santegia, died of a wasting disease in 1682. Overseeing a small realm that was, for all intents and purposes, a Renatian vassal, King Leo bequeathed his crown to his cousin. Santegia was a small region, but King Leo had a bright mind for finances and left behind a sizable treasury, which was desperately needed to fund the growing Imperial Legion, as many years of peace meant a lack of the plunder that had sustained the realm for so long. The next victory was a year later. In 1674 a Norlandic nobleman named Thoromir Ruric had led a band of followers from Ashwood, dissatisfied with Imperial rule there, to the swamplands of northern Atlas. There they founded a town called Nordengrad. Although it was far away from the bustling trade of the south, it found allies in the nearby Horde of Krugmar and the dwarven Kingdom of Kaz’Ulrah, both of whom had been allies of Aurelius at some time in the past, but were generally the least willing of his partners. Thoromir Ruric loudly made it known that he wished to avoid the affairs of the south, but this did not entirely assure Aurelius. In 1683, the Emperor summoned Thoromir and the Nordengraders to Carolustadt, where he demanded their fealty. Thoromir, not wanting to provoke the giant, agreed, much to the chagrin of his vassals. 1683 saw Aurelius raise another vassal. Two years earlier Sir Konrad Nzech, who had been capable as Governor of Curon, had died. Those appointed to succeed him were corrupt and nearly sparked a rebellion after the mishandling of winter grain allocation. Enough time had passed since the Staunton Uprising, and the Emperor was confident that the region had been greatly pacified since then. A few weeks after he secured the submission of Nordengrad, he summoned Wilhelm Devereux, the son of the former Duke Alfred and Duchess Linette, and restored to him his family’s estates and titles. The new Duke of Curon proved to be an able leader and within months he was able to quiet the regional discontent. These later years also saw significant change in Aurelius’s own life. In his early life, up until the flight to Atlas, he had relied greatly on the seasoned Leitseig Romstun and Arpad Ivanovich to give him the support he needed in times of war and to help keep the order of his fledgling realm. Through his intermediate years, as he slowly expanded his realm and consolidated it into the Empire of Man, he turned to his three sons, Constantine, Antonius, and Tiberius, and his cousin, Charles, to learn from him and shoulder the same burdens of war and peace. Throughout it all, Empress Theodosia had been a constant supporter, even if her role was unheralded. As the twilight of his career came, the ranks would change once again, bringing forth a new generation of men who would lead the Empire. Crown Prince Constantine’s betrayal and exile had been the first blow many years ago, but it was a recoverable one. Prince Antonius was far better-liked by nearly all in the Empire, for he was a general second to none and could command a room in the same manner as his father. It came as a surprise to no one when he was made Crown Prince after his elder brother’s disinheritance. By the time of the Empire’s reformation, he was forty-two, in good health, and had many children. Contrary to the expectations of all, he would soon predecease his father. In the summer of 1679, Prince Antonius caught a fever while leading a campaign against the City of Sutica. When his condition worsened, he was evacuated back to the capital, but he did not recover. The next spring, he was dead. The succession of the Empire fell to Prince Augustus, Prince Antonius’s eldest son. Closer to his uncle Constantine, in disposition, the new Crown Prince did not have his father’s charisma, prowess at arms, or natural affinity to glory, but he did have a bright, calculating mind for politics and was a careful observer of his grandfather’s government. He and Aurelius were not close, but he was soon involved in important affairs of the council and was, if by necessity more than intimate trust, given a high place by the Emperor’s side. Prince Tiberius followed not long after his brother. Having taken control of the Imperial Legion after Antonius’s death, he worked tirelessly to keep his brother’s ongoing reformations alive. His diligence paid off, and by 1682 he had overseen the transformation of the Legion into a professional fighting force the likes of which had not been seen before, and had opened two officers’ colleges in the realm. Unfortunately, his body could not keep up with the energy he exerted to break from his brother’s shadow, and in 1683 his heart burst as he was inspecting the Empire’s northern defenses. The Legion had been thoroughly professionalized by that point, and disciplined soldiers and capable officers kept it from falling into disarray, but without a clear leader it was forced to scale back some of its more aggressive operations. Prince Charles, unlike his cousins, managed to outlive Aurelius; but his career would not. The Archchancellor’s skill at the diplomatic table had allowed him to build (and more importantly, to keep) a strong coalition around the ever-expanding Pertinaxi realm. Through several wars he had kept this alliance together, but by the 1680s he had lost sight of his role in international affairs. While many within the Imperial sphere of influence had their grievances, it was Aurelius’s policy to never intervene, only to mediate. This had worked well enough during the many Dominion-Krugmar conflicts that entered a period of ceasefire each time their respective obligations towards the Empire forced them to join in a new war, but over the years Prince Charles had found himself increasingly-favoring Kairn Ithelanen and his elves. He sent soldiers and supplies to the Dominion from 1676-onwards to aid them in their fight against the orcs over the Loftywoods, a densely-thicketed borderlands between the two countries. By the 1680s this was more than enough for the orcs, who broke their alliance with Renatus and drifted towards alignment with the dwarves of Kaz’Ulrah. At the direction of Aurelius, Prince Charles resigned from his position and retired to his country estates, where he would quietly live out the rest of his days. Empress Theodosia was the last to leave Aurelius’s life. She had been there since the beginning, before he even wore a crown, and had gracefully, faithfully aided him throughout it all. None could claim to match her as a confidant or even as a friend, for few could understand what it meant to be a man of Aurelius’s historical stature. Not even she could understand it, but she could talk frankly about policy in the late hours of the night, or be trusted with transcribing important orders when the Emperor did not wish to write them by hand. It was a work as restless as her husband’s own. Despite being seventeen years younger than Aurelius, Theodosia was in far poorer health, and by 1684 her body began to wither and deteriorate. As it was not expected that she would survive a year longer, she retired to one of their estates in eastern Norland to enjoy the fairer weather there. With matters of state keeping the Emperor at Carolustadt, he was rarely able to visit her, but he always strove to make the time when he could. She eventually died on the 11th of Owyn’s Flame, 1685, just a week after a visit from her husband. As had first been afforded for Antonius, then for Tiberius, she was given a great procession throughout the capital and laid to rest in the crypts beneath. Thousands came to the streets to mourn her, even if she had been little-known in life. Public mourning had been declared on nearly every occasion of the death of one of the members of the Imperial family, but aside from wearing his customary black garb, Aurelius displayed little in the way of this sentiment. Never an emotional man to begin with, his sorrow manifested in further seclusion. It was here that critics of the time referred to him as “the Emperor in the shadows.” At his old age, death seemed near, but yet again he would be called to the battlefield to deal with new threats that had arisen in the wake of his Imperial expansion. The lessons that Aurelius had learned from the Sixth Empire were evident as he built his own. Cooperative unity may have allowed the Mardons to quickly take the throne, but it also limited their control on force within the realm. The weakened Crown had fallen victim to the machination of the many powers within Oren at the time, and it finally was succumbed by them all. While Aurelius’s own aggression left a wake of resentment, death, and destruction that the creation of the Mardon Empire never had, it also had secured the state to a far greater capacity than any previous Empire. Security for the state at the cost of his morality became a central theme to Aurelius’s life that some historians and authors would explore, but it has often painted him as a completely cruel, ruthless tyrant who was forced to become so by the conditions of his time. This picture is not an altogether incorrect one, though it often overlooks the very personal cost of this mission. Nearly all who he had any confidence in would at some point fail him, betray him, or predecease him. There is not much said on the mental toll that it dealt on him, but brief glimpses at personal correspondence suggest that it was quite serious, such as when he wrote to Kairn Ithelanen, an elf so aged as to have experienced greater than what even he had, for advice: "... What have you endured to see your people where they are now? I pray that it is contentment, satisfaction, and not the despair that I believe must come with that position. A dream cannot be fulfilled if the heart does not splinter, nor can the heart be whole if the dream is not abandoned. Our histories do not have a single example of the satisfaction of both, and it seems that I may not be that exception. I am curious to know whether the elves have a figure who succeeded…” This letter, written in 1686, is noteworthy in that it is one of seven surviving letters that was written by Aurelius’s own hand. O Ágioi Kristoff, Jude kai Pius. Dóste mas gnósi ópos sas ékane o Theós. Poté min afísoume na doúme to skotádi, allá as doúme móno to fos tis sofías kai tis alítheias. O Theós na se evlogeí. The end of Aurelius’s life shall be covered in our next volume of The Historia Pertinaxi.

Richard von Leopold cooed from the Seven Skies "Zhat's my boy."

The Via Avanza Party Founded on 9th of Horen’s Calling, 111 BA “The roots now established Were established by us We passed the watering pot to each other in trust To all who toiled and planted the seeds We now watch as they grow and breathe On a fateful day we watched the tree unfold The beautiful leaves with their blossoming folds The fruits that are now ripe for harvest Are picked and shared amongst the promised And so, we continue to tend to this grove For we hope that our descendants can share in its trove.” Gaius var Ruthern, 73 B.A. Foundation of the Party The Via Avanza Party was formed by four of the original seven Senators of Balian, with the hope to establish a stronghold consisting of the most fervent, ardent politicians of the nation. To bring to focus the shared aspirations of the Senators and achieve the Balian they wish to see. Founding Members: Chairman - Baldric Vourkehardt Delegate - Ivan var Ruthern Delegate - Viktor Gotwa Delegate - Wernher Vourkehardt Tenets of the Party It is the perspective of the Via Avanza Party that there is to be strength, prosperity, unity, efficiency, and faith that guides our decisions. The Citizen of Balian will only be granted such virtues and support from the entirety of the party and its members. Strength of the Nation - We as a party hold the security of all citizens at the highest priority, as such, we hold the belief that a strong, efficient, and loyal military force capable of defending our borders, and citizens, is of paramount priority to the nation. Prosperity for the Citizenry - All who may call themselves citizens of Balian are deserving of support from the state to ensure their prosperity. We hold this belief to place the needs of citizens as the first concern in our party. Every single citizen deserves the ability to live, to prosper, to find purpose, and to further themselves in the society of Balian. A United Nation - Let there never be a day where the Balian Citizen is necessitated to risk their life against their own kin. For such a day to never come, we shall endlessly toil to maintain unity and integrity inside the Kingdom. We believe the multitude of cultures within Balian are a strength and not a blade of which will divide our purpose. Efficiency - We hold the belief that a successful state is an efficient one, properly managed by those capable. Balian, as a nation, shall be one without wasted taxes, without incompetency, and one without meaningless labor. For the continued prosperity of the nation and its residents, we must embark on a journey to eradicate all that instills lethargy and slows further progress. Canonist Values - Let us never neglect that we are the sons and daughters of Horen, and the followers of the four exalted. We must do all that we can to uphold the Canonist principles and values. Balian shall forever be known to be a devoted Canonist nation under the watchful gaze of the Almighty. Party Structure The structure of the Via Avanza Party is made to be accessible and traversable for those with the passion to undertake it. It is the pursuit of the party to bring all walks of life further on their path, to allow all to flourish. The party works as one body, hand in hand, to fulfill its goals. The Chairman The Chairman is the leader of the party, setting its course and directing meetings. They oversee the major decisions of the party, organizing the force of the party towards its goals outlined above. This position is one of rotation, every four years a different delegate will take the position. The Delegates The Delegates are senior party members who hold large influence in the political and national sphere of Balian and partake in the Delegate meetings to finalize all matters related to the party. To become a Delegate, the individual must have been a party member for four years and be sponsored by an existing Delegate in addition to being approved in simple majority within a Delegate meeting. The Members The Members, although not yet Delegates, are individuals of high standing or moderate influence who have joined the party to support its goals. Let their position not be one seen as lesser than, as their passion towards the cause of the party is of no doubt. The members are invited to attend closed discussions, have the right to speak in events and hold the right to suggest bills to be discussed to the Delegates. Any Associate can apply to become a member after one year within the party, though in certain cases, exceptions can be made with majority approval of the Delegates. As the tenets of the party prove, it is the voice of the many that speaks loudest. The Associates Any citizen of Balian may become an Associate of the party by speaking to any Delegate of the Via Avanza Party. Therein, they must make public and official their support for the party. By becoming an Associate, the citizen gains the privilege to attend closed Party discussions to listen in and, with permission, to speak if they have matters to raise to the party. PRO DEI ET PROGRESSU, Viktor Gotwa, Senator of Balian Father Ivan var Ruthern, Gran Orator of the Senate, Voice of Her Majesty’s Legislature, Clergyman of the Archdiocese of Lotharia. Wernher Vourkehardt, Senator of Balian Baldric Vourkehardt, Senator of Balian, Patriarch of Vourkehardt

Annika looks at the missive, slowly handing Emma a pastry. "Well.... this will be interesting"

•─────────────────────•❀•─────────────────────• The night crept into the bedchamber, moonlight inching its way to the Baroness. The water was quiet as a stone that night, still and unassuming as the Chateau had gone into her nightly slumber. Somewhere, a candle flickered out and servants were cleaning up porcelain china from the night before. She heard the clatter, the clutter, the clinking and clashing of plates, knowing all too well what was to come soon. Henri hadn’t yet returned home, and somewhere down the hall, Catherine and Henriette were gossiping. It was an unceremonious day followed by an unceremonious night. •─────────────────────•❀•─────────────────────• A N N O U N C E M E N T of P A S S I N G ISSUED by HOUSE DE LEWES, 1978 It is with deep distress that the House de Lewes announces the passing of their matriarch, Amelia Paulina Ashford de Lewes, born Amelia Paulina Varoche in 1892. She succumbed to a severe case of the flu in 1976, two years prior to today's announcement. Amelia is survived by six children, and sixteen grandchildren, including that of the House von Alstreim and House de Ardennes, formerly Haverlock. Born in 1892 to Sigismond Varoche and Ipera de Falstaff, Amelia grew up in the quaint Duchy of Adria under the Duke Heinrik Sarkozic. At the start of Heinrik’s rebellion, Amelia fled to the capital of Aaun, then New Vienne, and then to Minitz. Following the war, she wed Fernand Ashford de Lewes in 1928 and sired six children with him, Henri, Jean-Paul, Louis Antoine, Anne, Laurene, and Margot-Lucilla. Henri wed Katharina of Velen, Laurene wed the Prince of Merryweather and Margot the Count of Talentine. Amelia peacefully passed in her sleep, aged 84. •─────────────────────•❀•─────────────────────•

"Oh, Mama.." Johanne, not one usually for hugs, would greet her mother in the Seven Skies. Her arms wrapped over her, a kiss settling against her weathered cheek.

Faeviel who was Rosemary's step sister smiled at her arrival, she had her daughter Fallon with her and her mother Anne de Rosius also known as Anne Kommenos. (Sorry if I misspelled the last name) She didn't say to much as she knew Rosemary had plenty of people to see, so just offered a light wave and a "Hello"

Franziska caught a look at the missive and blinks "My brother is getting married?" she paused a moment and glanced at her husband "I don't know if I should care or not, he was never much involved in my life" she sighs, glancing at her two children who happily played a game. "Think we will be invited to go to the wedding? Or should we just not care my love?" she waited for an answer

"A wheel is not a wheel if one looks at it from the side." "I hope you can see that in the next life." Spoke a super duper sad Jenny planting a singular stone upon dirt, beside planted flower. A flower that would wither. But redemption did not degrade nor rust. A stone may shave but its sediment would still be carried by the wind off toward the unknown. Upon the stone were singular name scrawled: Adya.

𝔓𝔬𝔯𝔱𝔬𝔯𝔢𝔤𝔫𝔢 𝔓𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔬𝔡𝔦𝔠𝔞𝔩 9th of Horen's Calling, 111B.A Price: Free (Donations welcome) Portoregne’s retail sector sees frequent change, and with new residents and trade feels constantly formed on a yearly basis, it is only natural that these businesses change with the seasons. This edition of the periodical is purely to promote some of the newest businesses that have recently made their debut. Do not fret if yours is not included- feel free to reach out and ask! 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕰𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖓 𝕸𝖊𝖓𝖆𝖌𝖊𝖗𝖎𝖊 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕿𝖊𝖆 𝕾𝖍𝖔𝖕 𝒜𝓃𝓃𝑒'𝓈 𝒜𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓊𝑒 𝐼 · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · Situated at the corner of the central square of Portoregne is The Equestrian Menagerie and Tea Shop, an establishment owned and run by the family of Vourkehardt- a newcomer crew to the nation of Balian. Beautifully decorated, this place of business is diligently separated into its respective sections. One would assume that they only dabble in the trade of horses, however a meander into the shop shows otherwise. Nestled within the farthest corner is their smithing section- metals, fuels- all the basics at competitive prices. A display behind the window, overlooking the street, offers on sale a variety of purchases. A wine, a bauble and a toy- an unusual array of items though, they are quite the eye catcher. Of course, the equestrian themed products take up most of the space. Saddles, leashes, and tokens for horses themselves are sold for variable prices. They even boast the purest bred horses at a cool 100 minae. Finally, my personal favorite section- The Tea Shop. Sat right beside the door to welcome one in, it is impossible to miss Griffin’s Tea bar. At 3 minae a cup- you can truly not go wrong. Their menu reads as follows: Sweetberry tea, Honey lemon tea, Green bitter tea and Milk tea. 𝕮𝖔𝖚𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 𝕯𝖊 𝕷𝖞𝖔𝖓𝖘 𝒜𝓃𝓃𝑒'𝓈 𝒜𝓋𝑒𝓃𝓊𝑒 𝐼𝒱 · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · A few doors along the main road and any visitor will find it difficult to come across the beautiful establishment of Couture de Lyons. A pristine white building surrounded by an array of vibrant and scented flora- that alone is enough to draw someone inside. The first floor, or perhaps the reception, offers a desk and catalog - introducing the visitor to the owner of the business, the Lady Juliana de Lyons. Displayed for sale at this level are tokens for makeovers! Ranging from price and detail, the most expensive is that of a full makeover at 325 minae. The others, in descending order are Outfit Makeover - 250, Head Makeover - 100 and Accessory - 75. Though at the time of writing, these all are out of stock. A shame. To conclude this level of the store, two dresses stand on display within the main window, both priced at 150 Minae. Shoppers can purchase the dresses at said display- and look their most prettiest in an instant! The store does boast an upper and lower floor, though each are somewhat lacking in stock. The upper has a wide array of books on sale- perfect for your bookworm relative or friend, of varying topics. A large collection, assumedly the entire collection of the Works of Borris Kortrevich can be purchased here, along with some other fantasy stories. Finally, the lower level displays a few bottles of perfume, though it seems to offer promise of much more, given the displays which stand ready! 𝕷𝖆 𝕾𝖊𝖉𝖆 𝕸𝖔𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖔𝖘𝖆 𝒫𝒾𝒶𝓉𝒶 𝒹𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑔𝓃𝑒 𝟥 · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · This could hardly be a promotion of Portoregne businesses without noting the nation's own shop! Ran assumedly by Her Majesty, this perfectly situated place of trade- directly in view of the city square, offers a variety of resources, weapons, tomes and more. Each, I assume, were either created by a member of the Portoregne peerage or by Her Majesty herself. There are potions a plenty of each and all kinds, so clearly the court alchemist is being kept occupied. A 38 inch weapon sits besides these for sale, at only 25 mina- quite the steal, really. Other items to purchase are a book on the Baliante tongue, standard resources such as iron and… cactus green! It is worth noting that the businesses of Portoregne do not simply reside within the main street. The market, which is still a work in progress in terms of decor, is still open for trade! Stalls seem to come and go rather quickly, though I can certainly not leave them out of the paper! Following are three unique business all open and ready for trade, with a little bit of self promotion slotted within. 𝕭𝖗𝖆𝖇𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖊 𝕻𝖗𝖊𝖒𝖎𝖚𝖒 𝕰𝖝𝖕𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖘 · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · Opened only within the last saints day or two, this new stall features imported goods from the settlement of Brabant. Located within the woodlands of the east coast, these wares have certainly traveled a good distance. Here you will find beautifully cut gems, weapons, resources and even a potion on sale! A wide variety, it seems. 𝕲𝖊𝖔𝖑𝖔𝖌𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖘 𝕾𝖍𝖊𝖑𝖙𝖊𝖗 · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · A business which has stood for a short while now. Ran by His Highness Elianos, Geologists Corner sells, well, rocks. The Prince is often out of stock- it seems guests can hardly keep their hands off these stones, which offer a chance of producing a beautiful geode. Equally, they also offer.. Stone… or fossils, I am to gather. But at 10 minae a piece, how can we say no? 𝕾𝖆𝖓 𝕬𝖉𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖓𝖔 𝕰𝖒𝖕𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖚𝖒 · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · To conclude the business, I did promise a little self promotion. San Adriano Emporium, once Author's Corner, began as a labor of love for the written word. Anyone who knows me just knows my love for books. Though with some new found skills blooming, I have begun to offer entirely custom living dolls. Do feel free to reach out for any enquiries! The Portoregne Periodical now has its own office! Located within the second level of Ledicort’s Hall, just above the market place. Visitors who wish to write to the author may do so, either by sending a bird to Cosima Temesch or by leaving a note within the office mailbox.

Aveline Girard gasped as she was handed the missive by William @asoart on the shocking crime scene, immediately delving into dark thoughts of the upcoming war - "Out of the frying pan and into the fire"

The legendary self-insert, King Sugarfoot III, starts to slaughter innocent Haense and Balian children who were of similar height to him, being a short and stout halfling. "They are all the same!"