THE BLOOD-RAVEN'S REBUKE

[LithiumSedai 5750]

[!] An open letter makes its way to every corner of the realm.

 

 

---

 

To the usurper bastard Antony de Sola, masquerading as the Holy Orenian Emperor Peter III Helane,

 

CORWIN, By the Grace of God, King of Sutica and in Atheran Salvus, Lord of Alstreim and Blackwater, Imperial Dragon Knight of Waldenia and Renatus, delivers greetings from the Sutican frontlines.

 

 

It has truly pleased and amused me to receive a pair of autographed and addressed missives from your offices in Novellen. Being an avid collector of all sorts of hilarious fiction, it warms my Waldenian heart to know that an important and dignified monarch of your rank, whose valuable time is no doubt often occupied by a harem of Elfen concubines, had spared the effort of addressing myself as his dearest friend and companion. Perhaps the pleasant memories of our only meeting more than three decades ago, when I stood by as Herzog Godric introduced his boot to your skull, had left an impression; be assured that I fondly remember this occasion in equal measure. For that reason I will forgive the unfortunate disrespect to my titles and my Waldenian name, and you will permit me to address you in kind, dearest Antony.

 

My Council had been kind enough to deliver a polite response to your diplomats, with the full presumption of your legitimacy and a formal rebuttal of your ridiculous claims. Let me assure you, Antony, that I personally subscribe to no such niceties - I address this letter to yourself, but to be viewed and read also by the enslaved peoples of Orenia under your yoke, to dispel once and for all the delusion of your righteousness and right of succession.

 

---

 

You have deemed me a tyrant and usurper - I rebuke your claim. Sutica remains free; blood claims mean little to the affairs of the Sutican monarchy, for I had been uplifted by my predecessor, as she had been by hers, by the ancient custom of the Freistaat - yet still the blood that courses through my veins is fully Waldenian, and my name is truly Alstreim, but you are no Helane, you are an impostor who bears the crown of Horen seized by your Sarkozy puppeteer.

 

I recall the days of my youth, and that I had spoken with the son of Antonius in the courts of Karlstadt and upon the streets of Helena - yet this Prinz looked nothing like yourself. A true son of Horen he had been, of his father, the Kaiser - the one that your puppeteers claim was since replaced by a lowly Ritter by the name of Calculus de Sola, made to resemble his image and deceive the realm. If you are not Antonius’ firstborn, if Calculus de Sola stood in his stead when you would have been born, who are you?

 

The only usurper here is yourself - for you cannot be the Kaiser’s son, and can only be the bastard spawn of Ritter de Sola, if not another lowborn impostor. Raised in Ves, fed poisonous lies by your puppeteers who had taken up arms against the ones whose sacred heritage you claim, what right have you to the crowns of Orenia and Renatia Invicta? The answer is none. For if you had expected for me to yield to Orenian authority, to disavow my acts in the Rubern War on the merit of your titles - know that Alstreim recognizes no superior but Gott, and no Kaiser but Horen. 

 

---

 

You have deemed me a murderer - I rebuke your claim, for I had treated with Prinzessin Henrietta as my friend of Alstion, rather than my enemy of Sarkozy, she who had been forced into union with your unholy benefactors, beaten, restrained and abused, made to raise the spawn of those who had stolen her father’s rightful heritage. You’ve no right to speak her name, for you despised her and her lineage deeply, and before Gott I stand in her defense, in defense of her decision to free herself of your cabal. Know that before Him you will beg for her forgiveness rather than I.

 

The spawn of Sarkozy who came to challenge me in my own domain? He deemed himself enough of a man to demand to meet me, face me with a brandished knife, to threaten me with hired knives, to raise his blade at me in your name - in all the civilized realms, including yours, one would call it an assassination attempt; thus I also deemed him a man rather than a child, disarmed him and ran him through with my sword. A scar now mars my visage as a memento of our encounter - and the outcome would have been your fate as well, had you come in person rather than sent your lordlings to try to end me.

 

Let us speak of those who could not boast my luck, then, for genuine murder does plague your city of Helena rather than mine of Sutica. What of Alexander II and Johannes Achilius? What of Pontian III? You and your masters sought for them to disappear in the darkness much like you sought for me - but I lived, and in their name I shall face you.

 

---

 

Then, let us speak of the promise you made to my Freistaat and myself; the one that your criers declare in crazed screams in every corner of the Kaiserreich you usurped; the one that delivers your cuirassiers by the dozens to my allies’ blades, staining them with blood the sheen of your uniforms much alike the days of our fateful meeting. Let us for the moment put aside the conundrums of murder and self-defense, legitimacy and usurpation, loyalty and deceit, tyranny and freedom - the crux of the matter remains that you wish to claim my head. 

 

Know that many better than you had tried - thirty in the Rubern War alone - and that with my blade and axe I delivered their souls to Gott instead. Were you a man, to you I would say: mein Herr, the two of us shall cross blades at the field of honor! and then I would depart victorious, with your head in tow and leaving your Elfen mistress weeping over your body, yet your death would have been worthy of a true Kaiser; but you are no such thing, and to insinuate you possessed any manly virtues at all would be an insult before Gott. Though I remain your elder by over a decade, you still remain old and decrepit, having led an amoral life of sin and debauchery - what hope have you to best a Ritter, he who had served Pertinax in a thousand victorious battles, he who walked the steps of Aesterwalder martyrs? Not even in your wildest thoughts and dreams!

 

And though you shudder at the thought of facing me without a gate of iron bars between us and a pair of shackles around my wrists, you send your hordes to pillage and subjugate my lands while you yourself cower behind the walls of Helena, in the hopes of seizing me or having my Council deliver me to you; and with every coming hour, a hundred more bodies dressed in red shall decorate the Sutican plains - your men will die for a false Kaiser who dares not lead them in the field, should they not retreat. Know that I will personally lead my own as I have already, clad in the crimson plate of a Drachenritter, bearing the terrible banner of Alstreim on my back, my Ferrumkreuz gleaming in the morning sun; my Ceruleans will meet your Helenites in the field, and bei Gott, we shall crush them utterly and cast them back to the depths of Novellen.

 

---

 

To you, Antony, I make my vow before Gott, our Lord, and the free peoples of Arcas that rise up in armed struggle alongside my Ceruleans. Should you, for once, falter in your cowardice and deign to stand before your Orenian masses in battle, know that I will seek you out in the fray and part your head from your body, as Gott is my witness; and should you instead scurry back to Novellen with whatever remains of your host, then the Begrudged shall lay waste to your castles, shatter the walls of your stolen city, and drag you out to face my blade and justice. 

 

You are no Ritter, you are no König, you are no Kaiser, you are not even a man - you are a rat, and you will die a rat; you could have lived out your days without crossing my path, reveling in your halls stolen from my Renatian kin - but that which is stolen is thrice-damned; you instead sought death, you sought to subdue my domain, and so I shall crush your regime and your armies, and drag your puppet-masters out of the shadows and into the blinding light and cast them away. Until next we meet, Antony.

              

 

---

 

GOTT MIT UNS,

HIS ROYAL MAJESTY, Corwin of the House of Alstreim, By the Grace of God, King of Sutica and in Atheran Salvus, Triumvir of the State, Sovereign Lord of the Whispering Isles, Lord of Alstreim and Blackwater, Renatian Knight of Alstreim and Waldenia, Blood-Raven of Lorraine, Pilgrim to Aesterwald

 

 

[Mickaelhz 4300]

“Love him or hate him, from an objective standpoint the man is speaking facts.” Big Tony A.K.A Antonyus Horen smiled out, preparing his glorious facial hair for the special occasion on the horizon.

[osumanduas 1442]

“If this man was king of anything but Sutica I would commend his constant prattle and petty flexing. But honestly, a ruler of cowards, merchants, and sister shagging degenerates has no real feet to stand on in any talk of actual military strategy. What a cray-sunken sucker.” noted dragoman Stefan Morovic, always very contemptuous of Renatian baby butchers.

 

”Only facts here is that your mother was a dumb ‘hore with a fat arse. If you think the good Emperor’d the same as he did when you yourself were a tot with spots you must be snorting something far more potent than that Sutican white. Bloody ‘Blood Raven’ is right, only title this buddy ever bought he couldn’t even take proper until eons after he’d claimed it when Renatus was still breathing. Even then you had to be bloody elected, so this bloke better not speak of conquest when the only clout he ever got was by taking Sutican shaft up ‘is rear.”

 

His Lordship Morovic then characteristically spat unto the ground, having regressed back into peasantry due to his long stunt in exile.

[mika1278 3213]

Would be sharpening his blade along a whetstone, striking with precision and caution as he reads the message ”Mein Freund, I will fight for you, maybe even die, but i’d rather go down in battle than public execution by the orenite scum usurping the throne which belongs to Horen rightfully.” the elf would say, now laying away the blade and preparing his most great weapon of all, the mind, however, instead of doing what one would normally do to prepare his mind, Mika would pick up his blade and move to the warzone.

[AstriaS 4988]

The High Keeper read over the letter in quiet amusement, offering a small nod as she finished. “I do appreciate this man’s spirit. Though, I do wonder; Will old Pete actually stay dead this time?”

[Skyrunner 257]

Utaria Helenson-Anarion was clad in her battle regalia worn during the Third Atlas Coalition War as she read the missive a smirk growing over her face, "The free Volkssutika shall never live under Orenian oppression as they overthrow our elected leaders in order to replace them with their brand of Aristocracy. Oren shall find the true meaning of freedom in time. Gott Mit Uns mein Konig."

[Epistile 856]

Chan-Tuzi crossed his legs as he rested upon the docks of Sutica, the Hou-Zi shaking his head as he read the letter ”Xiǎo dòng bù bǔ, dà dòng chī kǔ.” ‘Tuzi whispered to himself quietly, before letting go of the parchment. 

 

Spoiler

ooc: xiǎo dòng bù bǔ, dà dòng chī kǔ = A small flame is soon quenched (Destroy your enemy while he is small)

 

 

[rukio 8924]

”The kingdom of Renatus was called the Empire of Man for good reason, the Orenians are only the Kingdom for Oren for an equal reason.” Yung Merc comments with a sigh. She then prepares for the fights ahead. ”GOD guide us all.” 

[argonian 14254]

1 hour ago, rukio said:

”The kingdom of Renatus was called the Empire of Man for good reason, the Orenians are only the Kingdom for Oren for an equal reason.” Yung Merc comments with a sigh. She then prepares for the fights ahead. ”GOD guide us all.” 

“I think you’ll find that the Kingdom of Renatus was called the Kingdom of Renatus. You might also want to look into the etymology of the word ‘Oren’; Horen might be a good start,” Conrad would reply helpfully! 

[rukio 8924]

4 minutes ago, argonian said:

“I think you’ll find that the Kingdom of Renatus was called the Kingdom of Renatus. You might also want to look into the etymology of the word ‘Oren’; Horen might be a good start,” Conrad would reply helpfully! 

“How did you get into my cave though?” Yung Merc would quip back, promptly bashing the invader over the head with her sword’s pommel! 

[argonian 14254]

12 minutes ago, rukio said:

“How did you get into my cave though?” Yung Merc would quip back, promptly bashing the invader over the head with her sword’s pommel! 

Conrad wakes up at the Cloud Temple.