No King Rules Forever [PK]

[mothsthetic 2250]

Lorelei Amelya wept. She had not known the Good King well, but she respected him greatly. His wife was a kind woman, both of them had only ever been kind to the Heiress and her family. As she sat in the campsite where her family’s keep was to be built, the young woman wept. For she knew Humanity had lost a great warrior, and an even better man.

 

Spoiler

you were fckin amazing gil, for every moment. i never knew you as well as id hoped, but thank you for every interaction we had. they were all good ones. i wish you nothing but the best moving forwards.

 

[TaraJess 2848]

Johanna Vuiller's ears burned at the screams of the princess. She did not see the King's final moments upon this earth, but she knew what cruel fate found him in the end. It was silence that found her on the boat, her remaining good eye set on a pile of bodies to be buried, and the sight of injured and dying as the last few remaining Balianese fled.

 

Who saves the flock from the Shepard when dinnertime comes?

The blade still found us. I fear for who is next. 

 

At the end of the war, she remained. One husband, two children, all of them still live and well. A true blessing.

[HogoBojo 4725]

48 minutes ago, Kaii said:

The Novellen Prince teared up as he stood atop his balcony, overlooking the ocean for the last time. A servant read out John's testament to him as he reminisced. Elias didn't comment on the testament before wiping his tears away, turning to those with him. "It is time to go, ai? Let's go Cassiel, Moving forward, it is what he would've wanted." He commented before departing from the city he once called home.

"Ai." The Mirror Prince replied simply as his gaze glanced up from the missive towards his his reverse mirror image and brother, Elias. "I will miss him dearly, as I will our homeland, and all of our people that we lost." With that statement, the man would shed a tear as he looked forth towards the Ocean for one last time, admiring its beauty and the crashing of the waves. The Prince would turn his back from the view and the former Royal Capital for a final time, leaving the place which he knew as home for his entire life.

 

@Kaii

[Wavey 2568]

From the northern coasts of Rhen, a shepherd heard the fateful words… (Reserved, tbc)

[harvestskies 362]

Yelena glossed over the King's final missive, her face growing a sickly pale as she neared its end. "My brother..... how I prayed that this day would never come." She muttered under her breath, tears shedding as she'd quickly pad over to a shrine, her shaking hands clasping together in prayer. "My friends have already had their lives taken from them, now my King-my brother, has followed in suit. Forgive me, my LORD.. but I ask... I beg you... to not take my sister away from me." She'd cry out, her legs giving out as she'd soon fall to the floor, breaking out in tears. "I plead that you listen to my prayers for once!" She wailed, releasing her hands from one another to slam into the floor. "Please.." She murmured, her cornflower gaze drifting upwards to meet the night sky. She was not ready for the days that would follow.


 

Spoiler

I've said this before in dms, but you were an amazing nl. It sucks that things turned out the way they did, but i'll always be eternally grateful for the opportunities you and maple both have given me throughout my time in balian. I'm really glad that I chose balian as my first human nation, and i'll never forget the times we've had together, wish you the best of luck in life man. 

 

Edited August 6, 2025 by harvestskies

[__Stal27 2126]

"The Eternal king of Balian. The forever Novellen. . . a king made from hardships, who rests among the ruins of his lands. . ." The former eldest Novellen murmured, lamenting as the final vessels departed the docks of Portoregne, leaving behind a city of ash and soot. "It is a fitting end for a king, to rest amongst his kingdom, a fair king, a good king. We will honour him."

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

Suffice to say, if not for your leadership, much of the community would've never stuck together and kept together if not for your leadership and persistence, whilst we may have debated on a few topics, remaining true to yourself and always thinking of the community made you the leader that you were for this nation. I could think of none other who we might've hoped to been the King of Balian even when it came to its final days, it has been an incredible ride and I am honoured to have been seen as a worthy successor to your reign even if it did not come. Rest easy and take it well King, we hope to see you around 🙏

 

[SummeryGuy 73]

Upon hearing the fall of his home and leader, Grover, or what remained of him, dropped to his knees, the cold metal legs that now carry him hitting the ground. All he really wanted in life was peace, but all he ever did was run from the past. For the first time, he felt a tear stream down his face, and then another, and another, and they wouldn't stop. Suddenly, he felt something familiar that he had pushed deep down and kept locked up for a long, long time. He felt rage, mass amounts of rage coursing throughout his body, adrenaline rushing through each and every single vein he had remaining within him. His tears quickly turned into heavy, angered breaths. Without even thinking, Grover would stand, yelling at the sky above him, chucking a large, sharp rock at a tree on the side of the road. As he slightly calmed himself, he looked to the side where the rock had hit. It was not sticking out of the side of the tree, but out of the side of a fox. He felt that he should feel upset and regretful, but he didn't. Instead, with his metallic body, he grunted and walked on, regaining his old ways of killing and villainy. He was not Grover Reid anymore. 
 

Spoiler

Yeah, I'm unbeaching him now, bitches! 

 

[Spellblades 749]

Warrin, in what was left of his semi-fragmented mind, somehow read the Missive in the afterlife as he cried for the Nation he once called home and the King who ruled it.

[Pancho 4197]

As Cerrick was given the news in his exile, he wept for the bloodline of Sybille. 
 

“The ruined destroy the brave, how we have failed the heavens that bore us.”

[Terry 2680]

Back at the Karoslund, would Ser Sigmar receive the news of John II's passing. It would further crush his already diminished spirit.

 

Death upon death, loss after loss. The elder Knight gazed up to the sky, pondering. Was this truly the life he deserved, and did any of it serve meaning? He'd ask this for hours, praying that Godan would answer him.

 

He remembered fighting off darkspawn alongside the Balianese up north, in Camp Tatiyana, beside the King and Queen. This fight, for once making Sigmar believe that what he were doing was worth it. Now here they lay, many winters later. The Haeseni, displaced and the Balianese now too, without their Good King. What good was Godan if those who claimed to serve him did nothing but displace and murder his most holy followers?

 

He'd push himself to a sitting position, rubbing at his eyes. He hadn't slept for days, now facing the harsh reality that is this new world. Full of enemies and self-indulgent 'Holy' men, to scrape the surface. He'd begin to wonder what part he even had left to play, if any. He'd look off then, towards the Karoslund.

 

And then, even a part of him began to wish he'd died fighting alongside them.

[molly molly molly 1329]

Spoiler

take care andustar, i wish you the best. i have mad respect for you and the balian playerbase for choosing to fight this war all the way to the end, no matter how impossible the odds were.

 

sallying out in a final stand at the end was unfathomably based, btw.  

 

[Lortime 1153]

The Cardinal Alaric had lost most respect for the late king when he abandoned the negotiations of surrender and left without a treaty; only a mad King would damn his own people when peace was well within his grasp. "There is no mercy we can offer vy anymore, John. All that is left is the Lord's.. but, as I stood by the flock, you stood by your people in the Final hours. I will likely die on the steps to some Church, fighting with my last breath to protect petitioners. I believe, the lord will know vyr intentions, that they outweigh vyr actions. You did what you could, as we all did.." He sighed deeply, the fact that the war was over was a good thing, wounds could begin to heal. "Godan Rest thy soul, John Novellen." He returned to the Holy Sees' Gardens, melancholic as ever, but... atleast the world was, for now, quiet. A quiet he had missed for the last decade, a quiet which he prayed would last for much longer. 

 

 

[MapleSunflower 1889]

Spoiler

 

Blood squelched under the boots of the Queen Kathryn, the black pools flooding the cracked concrete of the square and congealing around fallen limbs and shattered blades. Smoke hung low, dragging the sky into a dull grey haze -- as if even the heavens wished to turn away from the sorrowful scene. Fires burned in the distance as the rooftops of Portoregne still flickered with the dying memory of battle.

 

Burgundy now owned these lands -- at least in name. Their banners had fluttered like omens in the wind,  flaring against ash-colored skies, as they marched under the guise of instilling the ‘fear of GOD'... but the war had ended as wars often do -- with only death and destruction. The Burgundian soldiers and their allies were gone now, retreating to distant courts and chapels, leaving behind scorched earth and silence. In their wake, the displaced wandered like ghosts through the bones of their city, salvaging what the flames had not yet claimed.

 

Kathryn knelt where the heart no longer beat. The man before her -- her husband, her heart, the other half of every quiet morning -- now lay still. Once, he had been the voice of laughter, of stories spun with a grin in the glow of lanterns, of prayers murmured beside her as the stars turned overhead. John had always peeled oranges for her with care, separating the half and offering one into her hand like a precious ritual. They had done so since they were young. She could still remember the scent -- bright, sharp, alive. His smile was wide; That silent moment of warmth passed between them as they shared something so simple... so... constant. Now, that light was gone. His hands, once so full of small kindnesses, were empty.

 

Drawing the slain body of her beloved husband close, Kathryn's forehead touched John's gently, a gesture worn from countless nights of closeness. Tears traced her cheeks, not for the grandeur of loss, but for the small things: the stories unfinished, the warmth of peeled fruit pressed into her palm, the breath between words never to be spoken again. Fingers brushed the grime from his face. His blood, still warm, had smeared along her armor. 

 

"Wait for me, my love." The words left her lips as she pressed a final tender kiss to his lukewarm skin. "Susurrus tritici vocat..." She whispered as iron tinged on her tastebuds, his blood marked on her lips as she lifted her gaze to the Seven Skies above. "Guide him home, Uncle." Brows knit as she pleaded to the crepuscular rays of sunlight that shone over the horizon. "Almighty GOD, Welcome my husband into the shelter of Your mercy so that he may find rest at last in the comfort of Your heart. You have tested him with many burdens in this life. Now, I pray, that you may grant his soul peace and everlasting rest... please -- Let him rest."
 

Soft, golden beams broke through the clouds in the amber skies like a whispered promise and in their quiet holy glow, their sign of hope held tight to the trust within her heart. The people of Balian now gathered around her. With tears staining her visage, the widow now rose. Wordlessly, they drew forth -- no command need be uttered. With their faithful aid, the people took to her side and aided her in lifting up John the Good to carry him home.

 

Spoiler

Thank you so much for having me as your consort, Gil, and for letting me be apart of the Balian community. I'm so honored to support you as you journeyed being the NL of Balian and all the challenges you've faced. Your patience and kindness has helped this community grow into one of my most favorite that I've ever had the honor to be apart of. Thank you for the wonderful memories we all treasure here in Balian; There is no one else we'd rather have stood beside. 

 

Where there is a door that closes, another opens. Sending you many blessings as you now venture on your own adventures elsewhere. 

 

[Toffee 2843]

In the towers of a distant library, the historian Erika Kortrevich scratched away at her manuscript. History lived and unfurled before her very eyes, but she received the news of Balian's fall, and the king's, with a cold sort of detachment.

 

Far better to see the world through the distant, assessing gaze of a scholar rather than feel it, every bloody thread and ribbon.

 

So she wrote, and pondered, and committed the heroes of Canondom to memory.

[Fleeperpriest 1484]

 

Harren grinned the fierce grin of all men singed and driven back by flame.

He knew that when he returned to the firehouse, he might wink at himself, a minstrel man, burnt-

corked, in the mirror. Later, going to sleep, he would feel the fiery smile still gripped by his face

muscles, in the dark. It never went away, that. smile, it never ever went away, as long as he

remembered.