▌════════════════════❖════════════════════▌
𝕰𝖓𝖙𝖗𝖞 𝕿𝖜𝖔: 𝕬 𝕵𝖔𝖚𝖗𝖓𝖊𝖞 𝖎𝖓𝖙𝖔 𝕻𝖗𝖔𝖛𝖎𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖈𝖊
▌════════════════════❖════════════════════▌
13𝖙𝖍 𝖔𝖋 𝕬𝖒𝖇𝖊𝖗 𝕮𝖔𝖑𝖉, 𝖄𝖊𝖆𝖗 56 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕾𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖉 𝕬𝖌𝖊
[𝕸𝖔𝖓𝖉𝖆𝖞 𝕯𝖊𝖈𝖊𝖒𝖇𝖊𝖗 27𝖙𝖍, 2021]
Today I found myself within the lands of Oren. I ventured within the beautiful city and did some exploration. I must give the Orenian architects the credit they deserve; this is a masterfully constructed metropolitan area. The best of all, a hidden gem of wood reigns towards the church grounds of the city. I am sure many of the citizens of New Providence (aside from the explorative types such as myself) have little to no knowledge of its existence. Unfortunately I could not find any game.
The palace itself is quite the construction to be admired. It is a large monolith of a structure, most certainly the largest I have seen in these lands of Almaris so far; adorned with towering structures and a clock mounted above the entrance.
Within the palace, I had the pleasure of befriending the Emperor, His Imperial Majesty Philip III. He appears to be quite a caring and friendly leader. We exchanged small dialogue on the beauty of his most humble abode and the rooms that lay within.
The palace was bustling with activity and meetings during my duration of time there. It seems all of the Imperial State Army were to be tending to war efforts, leaving him unguarded. I took it upon myself, which he felt comfortable with, the duty of guarding His Imperial Majesty during his activities for the day.
I joined him in a meeting he was to attend with what seems like a displaced Prince of Norland. The Prince was unhappy with the current state of affairs with their Kingdom and sought to aid the Empire in their ongoing war with the coalition formed against them. He and the Emperor settled on helping within the war effort in exchange for land that his displaced Norlanders may settle within as well as keep their freedom to worship their religion within the Imperial fold.
He informed me of another meeting to be had that day as I guarded him throughout a stroll in his imperial capital. The Sohaer of the High Elves was scheduled to meet him, to which we returned to the palace where it was safest and lounged about until their arrival.
The high elves soon arrived at the doors of the palace with their leader, the Sohaer, introducing himself to the Emperor as Braxus Ni’leya. After some small talk, the ensemble of humans and high elves made their way towards the throne room of the palace.
Standing before the Emperor, Sohaer Braxus Ni’leya, congratulated His Imperial Majesty on the ‘The Great Revival’ within Oren that his rise to power had created. The Sohaer explained the current situation within his Kingdom. He was recently appointed as the leader of the High Elves within the past year. He spoke of the dark path Oren was heading down before the emperor’s enthronement and compared it to the recent history of his own lands to which he was also recently throned. He coined his reign as a great revival as was his compliment to Philip III’s current reign over the Holy Orenian Empire.
The conversation was going decently well for a while until the Sohaer kept rambling on about the poetic nonsense of his people’s situations and their endurance. He seemed very self indulgent into the glory of his people, not realizing that he was in a meeting with the head of state of a nation that dwarfs his in comparison. Emperor Philip III, seemed quite unamused and uninterested in the ongoing monologue by the Sohaer about the prestigious legacy of his nation. His Imperial Majesty whispered to me that he was going to “jump off the side of the palace if he didn’t get to the point.” When his monologue was finally over the Emperor praised GOD in a hushed tone amongst the individuals in his dias.
Finally he spoke of a fraudulent Princess of ‘Aheral, who killed a few of his citizens and threatened his own life. He was taken to a people known as the ‘Fenn and his words with them prevented his death. Then he continued to ramble on about lawful authority in another self indulgent retelling of the events that almost caused his death. It seemed at this point, every one of the Orenians were disenchanted with his words and I must say, this Sohaer is not an effective speaker at all. I pray for the safety of his people if this is how he councils with foreign powers. I’m surprised that his words with the ‘Fenn saved his life instead of sending him to an early grave.
The Emperor spoke with him about the war he was confronted with, it seems the war with the dwarves of Urguan began before his reign and that he intended to conclude the unfulfilled honor war within his own administration. It also seems the High Elves are in a cold war with the Princedom of Fenn. The Sohaer suspects that the Princedom of Fenn is propping up the pretender that seeks to usurp his throne. The Emperor expressed his concern to stay neutral in elven affairs and vowed that he would not raise a sword against the Sohaer and his people.
The Sohaer then brings up that he has seen the Ferryman, which is a major force in the war against the Empire, in association with the bands of individuals that seek to dethrone him. This seemed to be an act of persuasion on his part to entice the Emperor to offer his hand to them in their civil war. He then told Philip III, that the same people he spoke of before are truly in league with one another and attack not just him but the lands of Elysium and Elvenesse as well. He dug in more so on his pleas for an alliance with Oren and what the two states could achieve. However, the Emperor and the Arch-Chancellor brought up historical points of reference for when Oren has been negatively impacted by interfering with their affairs. The Emperor expressed numerous times to the Sohaer that he did not want to open up another front of the current war he was fighting.
A woman next to the Emperor chimed in and began attacking the Sohaer verbally after more of his continued and desperate pleas for an alliance; “Some might think a Sohaer would have a refined skill in diplomatic courtesy.” she struck forth to him. I think it is safe to assume this is Philip III’s wife, the Empress or another close relative of his. The Sohaer brought up his private meetings with Elysium and Elvenesse at aiding the Empire and seeing them win the conflict. However the Emperor shot down this request telling the Sohaer to bring forth all parties for a meeting and he may consider it. The Sohaer continued to try to hammer in that his enemies were already actively fighting against the Empire. The Emperor affirmed to the Sohaer that if he brought representatives from Elysium and Elvenesse to him within three saint’s days, then he would greatly consider or go through with an agreement of alliance with the High Elves.
Upon further rambling by the Sohaer, the Emperor asked us of the dias what our thoughts were. We all expressed our concern and hesitance to him signing any pacts with them. However we all thought it was best to let the man try to scramble together his idealized coalition. I told the Emperor that I personally thought the Sohaer was a diplomatic dunce. Although I am quite interested to see how this might unfold. The Emperor then spoke forth and told the High Elves that he will speak to his council and they will be given an answer within a saint’s day, however I doubt the outcome will favor them. The two then bid each other a respectful farewell and thus concluded this long and drawn out meeting of desperation of the Sohaer and the calm and collected Emperor Philip III.
At the end of the whole exchange, Emperor Philip III had little to say than that he would think about what was offered as well as a deep sigh before exiting the throne room towards his bed chambers.
▌════════════════════❖════════════════════▌