THE FATE OF THE MARCHLANDS

[Olox_ 4318]

 

THE FATE OF THE MARCHLANDS

Penned at the request of His Royal Majesty, John, the King of Aaun, in the year of our Lord, 1959

 

Spoiler

 

 

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PREAMBLE 

 

Peace and prosperity unto the Lowlands, united at last. After seven years of struggle, following the death of His Majesty Edmund II, our cause of liberating the Marchlands has come to fruition at last - our most western province with the help of the Great Covenant of Nations has been seized from the hands of the rebels led by Richard of Stassion, the Prince of Nothing. They have been butchering our people ever since they departed from our Kingdom and insisted that our citizens were the ones to first break the peace established by Edmund’s successor, our merciful King John. We have seen past their treason. 

 

Richard Stassion had made a holy vow upon the relics of the Saint Alexander of Furnestock not to take up arms against the Holy Mother Church and the Crown of Aaun in an armed conflict. He shamelessly broke this vow within days of his merciful expulsion. The men of Stassion, armed, resumed raiding that remained under Crown authority, harrying the peaceful subjects of the King. They saw no shame in breaking their holy vow, believing they could escape God’s justice and the Crown’s rightful retribution. With the blessing of His Holiness, Sixtus VI, our Realm assumed a resolute stance and took up arms against the rebels that dwelled in our western province for nearly a decade. Together with our stalwart allies of the Covenant of Nations, we extinguished their resolve in the lands they called their home. Our cause was righteous and just. Our Realm and her peaceful peoples never sought to be embroiled in conflict, yet it was forced upon them: we did not fire the first shot, but we fired the last. Now, on this 12th of Tobias’s Bounty, 1959, we stand triumphant.

 

THE FATE OF THE MARCHLANDS

 

Following the liberation of the Stassionite land, the reformed Crown of Aaun will endeavour to remove any structures erected on the territory of the Western Marches that may remind the people of Aaun of the House of Stassion and their crimes committed against them. It is declared what follows:

 

I His Majesty, the King of Aaun, demands that the only building to be spared within Fredericksburg is the local church. 

 

II His Majesty appoints a governor to keep watch over the Western Marches, namely Father Yann. It is among his duties to rid the western borderlands of the Kingdom of Stassionite infrastructure and return this region to nature by planting trees and sowing new fields.

 

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Approved by His Majesty, John I, at the Royal City of Whitespire

on the 12th of Tobias’ Bounty, 1959

[LithiumSedai 5750]

"What a time it was," said Fr. Jean, the newly-appointed Governor-General of Stassieland. He prayed to the protector of Aaun, Saint Godwin, for strength in the coming days to do the right thing.

 

[PecenyRohlik 421]

"Order and justice have been restored," Witold Jazlowiecki comments with a wide smile upon his lips. "A great day for the Kingdom."

[Crevel 7557]

"Let the stain of sin be washed away in this period of reforestation." Ser Vylandris remarks upon hearing the king's intent for the lands.

[Eryane 3698]

From her new home, Aurelia of Stassion received a small notice slipped under the main door to her chambers. She waited several moments, then pulled the parchment from the floor to read its contents. Seeing all that would remain was the church, she turned and shuffled through her closet to find a simple cloak to draw upon her shoulders and hurry to the outdoors for the journey.

 

In her hands hung a rosary, the beads of which she thumbed through as she walked the streets alone. A certain paper in her other hand crumbled the tighter she held it - she crossed the gates out of the city and lowered her eyes along the road. 

 

"May these lands be filled with goodness and joy once more, may the bloodshed wash away, may..." The crumbled fortress of Castle Aurelian lay before her. She pulled up her scarf above her nose from the sickening smell of the battle prior, and crossed the road further into Fredericksburg to lay her sights upon the church. If she squinted her eyes enough, she could imagine what her hometown would appear like without anything else around - no homes, no roads, nothing. Something in such imagination gave her hope for the healing of the land.

 

She spent the rest of the evening within the pews of that church.