Rise and Fall - IC

[Pumpkin Pirate]

http://roleplayerguild.com/showthrea...99#post8006799 - OOB for nation sheets.
http://roleplayerguild.com/showthrea...RP#post8006686 - Interest Check for idle reading.
http://roleplayerguild.com/showthrea...e-and-Fall-OOC - OOC for OOC chatter.

((I'll edit my own introduction post into this later. As for now, however, we felt it would be good to let you all RP without waiting for me to be ready for you.))

[DEMoGorgon47]

Off the Coast of Rivalia
The small, three-ship fleet of Avarian warships was sailing peacfuilling across the Sailor's sea. The Avarian Ambassador, Thor Ranz, a tall Avarian of 7 feet and brown-grey feathers, he was garbed in the traditional green robes of the higher class of his race. Today, however, conquest was not on his mind. He was sailing to Rivalia for a negotiation. Arvara, who had of late had a desire to expand over the Sailor's Sea, wanted to purchase land from Rivalia. It was a small plot of land pinched against the mountains, a river, and the coast that was technically not owned by any nation. However, Avara was in no mood to make political enenimes, and in the spirit of diplomacy sent Thor out to purchase the land.

The Avarian government had enabled Thor to spend quite a fair amount on the small plot of land. His only strict order was to not threaten the River Elves, as Avara wanted to forge allies in the eastern world. Thor's ships came into the harbor of a large city located on the at the very northern-most section of the Dragon Pennisula. There, he unboarded, and waited to be met by the River Elf greeting party.

~~~~~~~

Off the Coast of Lumenor

Erika Pecote had just made landfall in Homestead, the very extravigant capital of Lumen. She, like many of the fellow Avarian Ambassadors, she was sent on a diplomatic meeting. For her, the Horizon Isles were of interest. While not owned by any one nation, the Lumen had the closest claims to it, and the Avarians wished to take possession of it without enraging any of its neighboring nations-- especially the Lumen, who they admired as one of the most trustworthy and civilized of all the races. She patiently waited at the harbor in her customary yellow robes for the Lumen greet party to arrive.

~~~~~~~~

Next to the Serpents Channel in Avara
General Leondis Rito stood before his army of 7,500. They were in the final stages of preparing for their nation's third invasion of the Northern Avarian Island. This time, the Slythers would be exterminated for sure. All they waited on now was the final preparations. In a weeks time, the invasion would begin, and the Avarians would soon nearly double their empires size. Leondis smiled to himself, the much anticipated bloodshed making his pure-white feathers ruffle.

(Sorry if I am playing this wrong. I have never done a nation RP before. If I have messed up let me know and I will edit this)

[Victorian Style]

It had rained that night. It always rained in Arvale it would seem, weeping for the lost souls claimed by the civil war that had engulfed the country for the best half of two centuries. However all the rain could not wash the blood from the courtyard of Averham castle, a great sprawling behemoth of crenelations and parapets, the mouths of great cannons stared out toward the bustling city below and the sea which stretched beyond it. Averham, the great city on the coast, a dark labyrinth of streets and Alleyways. Chimneys jutted out into the air above like the spears thrust high into the air, spewing noxious smoke into the heavens above, not an inch of sunlight fell upon this city, staining the brickwork walls with smoke and the erosion of countless raindrops, and the constant thrum of Factories at work provided a steady heartbeat.

Lord Roderick Balworth gazed down from the high parapet onto the bustling courtyard below, there soldiers marched, their swords and pikes resting against the shoulders as they marched in their regimented lines. Each soldier in the Arvalian army was a highly trained professional he knew, and not one had failed in their duty to end this conflict. From somewhere far off the clatter of gunshots could be heard as the last of the dissenters were dealt with and summarily tossed over the side of the battlements, falling from the side of the keep and down, down into the crushing waters below. Adjusting his cravat the Lord turned away and headed back into his office, a room with high stained glass windows and a vaulted ceiling, dating back from the time of the unification and the old empire. "Oh how things had changed" he thought as he sat down and began working.

It was a mess, the nation was broke and income was being wasted on useless technologies being researched, they had to get a grip on their spending, another head entirely thought, this belonging to the King himself, as he sat there in his great hall within Castle Averham, chancellors surrounded the bear of a man, shoving papers and manifesto's into his awaiting hands. "This is going to take some time" he mutters to himself as the Farming bill found itself under his nose.

However, far below several ships lie in wait, their sails furled and the cannons secured within, supplies were being loaded by the minute and the captain had his orders, exploration. Many nations were out there they knew, but all the documents partaining as to previous contacts and species had been lost in the sacking of the old capital, rendering their knowledge incomplete, but this was a new age, and thus new experiences were abound, a blank sheet of parchment lie in the captain' cabin, and he intended to fill every square meter with details. "Mister Molton? ... Is it ready yet?" He spoke, into a tube set into the wall, the reply was garbled but the message was clear. "Very well, unfurl the sails, light the boilers, let's try this new technology then, shall we?" Again the reply was short and curt, however minutes later the ship shuddered and a loud toot could be heard, men shouted outside and the sails unfurled, emblazoned with the flag of Arvale. Slowly the ship left the cavern beneath the fortress and sailed out, out into the craggy shoreline of Arvale, who knew what they would discover? "For his majesty" the captain whispered to himself.

[Arxia]

Dragoria, the Struggling Northern Port on the Dragon Peninsula

Ral K. Timmison walked into Dragoria to a scene of chaos. He grabbed a man and shook him, "What in the world is going on here?"
"Ship!" he shouted and ran off, "Ship on the horizon!"
"Shit," Ral cursed under his breath. He drew his bow and rushed off to the port. There was a tower he was headed for, and while he didn't like the government, he would fight along side the military to save the people. When he arrived he climbed the tower and told the officer there he wished temporary service to save the people. He notched an arrow and drew back his bowstring, taking aim.
"Follow my mark, boy," the 80-something year old officer told him.
"Aye," he responded.

Soon the ship, which turned out to be three, landed in the port and docked itself. A small crew came out of the first ship and Ral turned his attention to what looked like the leader. "Sir?" Ral asked the officer getting ancy.
"Hold..." he said hesitantly.
A small group of elves emerged. A prominent military figure of about 120 years of age and a crew of archers behind him, at the ready. "HALT!!" he shouted in Common Elvish.


Riverdale, The Grand Capital of Rivalia

Tallok R. Rivals Jr. finished penning his letter to General Grole and signed it. Rivalia would begin pushing it's borders south into Legacy Peninsula. He gave it to his servant to deliver to a messenger. When the servant left, he had the room to himself. He leaned back and sighed. "Why do we have to conquer our cousins?"
He stood up, straightened his clothes, and walked to the fireplace. He held his hand out to the fireplace and used his Dragon Ring to light a fire in it, warming the room. He walked to a bookshelf, pulled a book out and pulled the lever behind it, revealing a secret passage. He walked into it down a hallway to a small room. He was early, but she should've been there soon.

About a half hour later, his mistress walked into the room and embraced him in a passionate kiss. She stripped and embraced him again.


The Northwest Side of Good Hope Landing

General Koylok M. Letson had landed at Good Hope only a few hours ago. He was to establish a fort here to strengthen Rivalia's claim to Legacy Peninsula. There were forces supposed to be invading southward to meet up with this fort, but that could easily take a few years because of the native Elvish tribes.
His men had pitched tents and where in the process of taking apart one of the five ships sent to Good Hope. He was directing them where to place the lumber after it was scavenged. They had a pile of lumber in what would be the eastern point of the fort. It wasn't the best place, being a flat plain, but wasn't horrible given that there weren't trees for at least a few hundred feet around.

Soon enough not only four stakes of the tower had been planted, but the tower itself was coming into shape. They were going to succeed. It was personal. Koylok's father had attempted to take Good Hope some 50 years ago. The native Elves killed him and his people, so he felt no remorse in conquering his Elvish cousins. He had to succeed despite the winter weather. There was no other option.

[DEMoGorgon47]

Dragoria

Thor stood as the River Elves approached. He had expected this, as there had been very few official meetings between the River Elves and Avarians, and this was the first to have any real political significance. The elves shouted something in their common tounge, which Thor-- using his extremely limited Elvish Lannguage knowledge -- interpretated as "halt." He sighed to himself, since his party had been moving, as a cold wintery wind blew through his robes.

Thor nodded, and one of the members in his party raised a pristine white flag. They came in peace. Behind him, the gifts of peace and friendship were being unloaded from the ship. Thor called in a mix of Avarian-Elfish: "We wish to meet your leader." Carefully, he placed emphasis on meet and leader, as those were the only elfish words he was confident that he spoke correctly in the entire sentence.

[Arxia]

Dragoria Port, the Cliffside Harbour

Ral saw the white flag and let up on his bow a smidge. He heard the leader speak, but could not make out the words, doubting he could even understand if he did make them out.
The head of the Elvish greeting party shouted to them, "They wish peace! Lower your weapons!"
Everyone lowered their weapons and Ral began to leave the tower, being thanked by the officer for his service. A few others from his tower had already left to go tell the citizens of the city that they meant no harm. As Ral came down the tower, he exited into an alley. What he came here to do was going to be a lot harder now that the military was still on alert. He intended to assinate the Lord of the city, but he was most likely being tightly gaurded by now just for safety.

From the alley, he made his way to the Lord's house. He worked his way to the side facing away from the port and looked for an area to climb it. It was about three stories he had to climb to get to where he would be hidden in a room all his own. It would only be gaurded on the outside door, luckily for Ral. He found a flag pole with the family flag flying on it, and shimmyed to the top. From there, he jumped onto the building and climbed using his knives as pegs in the wood. Hopefully no one would look up. He made it to the windowsil and climbed up, squatting in the window.
The Lord was having sex with someone, but it took a moment for Ral to realize who. It wasn't his wife, but rather was his daughter. Ral turned away and grimaced at what he just witnessed. The Lord was 82, sure a rather young elf who was still in his prime and objectively was good-looking, but his daughter was 27 and, more importantly, his daughter. But then he realized this would cause even more chaos and weaken the government even more. They will come in the room to see the Lord and his daughter both assinated while having sex, it was the perfect opurtunity.
Ral notched a flight of arrows into his bow and took aim at the scene. He released and the two lovers collapsed, blood everywhere. Ral jumped back into the cart of hay that was below the window, three stories down.

After Commander Yor S. Tolly called the troops down, he ordered two cups of mint tea to be brougt. Yor put one in the stranger's hand and motioned for him to drink, then taking a sip of his own glass. He continued speaking in Common Elvish, hoping his aquantence will understand some of what he was saying from previous encounters with other Elven subspecies.
As he spoke, he tried to make hand gestures to go along with what he said, "There is a long journey to our king. Do you wish to speak with the cities Lord instead? Have you any translators who speak better Elvish than yourself?"

[Palamon]

North East Border of Edyr

Terilk sniffed the cold forest air, "Well Captain, it appears that your troops have done it once again. These hoof legged non-human scum will serve well in the wheat fields." He rubbed a hand through his long silver white beard.

"Yes, Utherius be praised." The squat heavily armored man stated sarcastically. He turned his gaze to the lines of troops who trudged through the forest, yanking behind them the forsaken fauns in chains. "I suppose the Emperor will want us to squash that would-be dwarf king then."

"No, no, no." Terik said holding off laughter. "Those dwarves are no trouble. I expect he' ll let the prince gain some sort of fame or glory in wiping out that trash. And without giving anything away, Gregor my stalwart companion, I think our Glorious Emperor's eye is shifting north." He gave a deft wink at the end of this, only to be greeted by the sigh of exasperation from Captain Gregor.

"So be it, Let's be off then. These sub-humans won't escort themselves." At that the Captain moved off, leading the robed cleric and his horse off.

Off the Southern Coast of Amerizone

The salty sea water sprayed up from the waves as they broke against the trireme's bow. Ederian shipmen yelled orders to the non-human rowers at the bottom. "Row harder you godless sub-humans!" one yelld as he cracked a whip. And upon the trireme's platforms, Ederian sailors and naval troops moved about working hard as they neared the coast of Amerizone.

At the head of the boat a stern man, with a trimmed bear, white silver hair, and a silver embroidered blue coat stood using a spyglass to look off into the distance. "Alright lads, sound out the drum call to the other ships, three leagues to port." he yelled. At that a loud drum-call sounded and was repeated ten times by, once for each ship in the formation. "This wheat and those ceramics will fetch a good price from these un-civilized fiends. Yet despite their uncultured demeanor they have quite good taste in pottery." The man was talking to himself, but the sailors knew better than to question old Admiral Imperius.

The Admiral had an important mission in Amerizone, ensuring the goods got to market safely, and to do some lobbying with the port city's highest ranking officials. Trade with Amerizone was very important to Edyr. If it weren't for them, Edyr would have very little contact with any nation. At least that's how old Imperius saw it.
The Admiral put the spyglass down, "Well? Get your asses into gear, we need to make it there some time in the next decade."

[Forseti]

The Telleshelm royal palace, Telleshelm, Frissen island

First lord Hymrik of Lansorr rock looked to the grand wooden doors of the royal study, two ceremonially dressed guards walked into the sunlight and candle lit room flanking an overweight man in woollen robes. " Hymrik!" shouted the man, opening his arms in an embrace with the first lord, which Hymrik in surprise accepted and felt uncomfortable the the large beer belly of the man pushing against him. " This idea of yours that you and the king came up with will surely bring in the gold we need to boost the income the king and Greysan are spending on their fleet" said the lord treasurer Jark. The men grinned at each other as Hymrik broke their embrace, " Those caravels had been sitting in the anchorage for months, we might as well have done something with them" said Hymrik chuckled, the lord treasurer barked out his laughter, unable to gather himself and look proper for the next guest to enter the room.

Hymrik clicked the heels of his boots together as he bowed to the man who entered study, the doors shutting after him as he moved into the room of books shelves and comfortable leather furniture. The man was dressed in regal robes of the state colours of blue, yellow and white, decades younger than Hymrik and certainly the lord treasurer, the man he called king smiled at the men in his study. " Your majesty" said the two old men in unison, raising their heads from their bow to look upon the king of the Frissenmark. " Are you two already celebrating the success of the exploration squadrons?" asked the king Alphred, Hymrik looked down at the fine carpet under boots while Jark chuckled to himself and greeted the king. " Well your majesty, unless they fall off the edge of the world I'm sure that they will no doubt reach land soon and find something or someone of value" grinned the lord treasurer, Hymrik smiling at the man's optimistic outlook considering he was supposed to be a man of economics and their harsh realities.

" If that be the case Jark then a toast perhaps..." said Alphred, going to a table in the study and pouring three glasses of four available of marenessian wine, "... to the western and eastern exploration squadrons" smiled the young king, handing the lord treasurer and the first lord the clear goblets of wine. Hymrik looked into the sparkling white liquid within his glass before taking a long sip of the wine at the prompting of the king.

Pride of Salshaupt, near the south coast of Silvar Island

Captain Gregnorn Nahrman looked out from the quarter deck of his ship, the Pride of Salshaupt, the bold white sails of the two other caravels of the squadron held strong with the northerly wind of the grey sky above them. Watching as the surf of the waves reached out onto the decks of the ships around them, sailors and marines of their respective ships carrying about their duties. " A bit rough the sea today wouldn't you think captain?" said a large bearded man beside Gregnorn, resting his arm against on of the quarter deck's starboard ballista, one of two heavy ranged weapons aboard the caravel. " Certainly first mate Briggs, at least it has blessed us with clear line of sight towards the horizon" replied the captain, still looking out toward the ocean, brushing away his dirty blonde hair from flayling into his eyes. " Well thats always useful if were going to find another unihabited island I guess" said Briggs, looking himself towards the view of the ocean. For the past two weeks the western fleet had found nothing but three empty islands devoid of civilization or sentients of any kind, it dulled the excitement of discovery and adventure a little more everytime.

" Captain! the Stormdodger is signalling that they have sighted land of their port side!" shouted a sailor from his crows nest high above the quarter deck, Briggs and Gregnorn looked up at the sailor and then back towards the Stormdodger. " Briggs, give me my spyglass" said Gregnorn in mild urgency as he looked at the signal flags of the furthest caravel of their squadron.

[DEMoGorgon47]

Thor slightly understood the Elf's words. He turned to one of his comrades, a slightly shorter Avarian with greying feathers and plain white robes. Speaking in Avarian he asked: "Hai, your Elf is better than mine. Please, tell me what they said as best as they can."

"Aye, I will do my best," said Hai in Avarian. "From what I could tell, the River Elf said the journey to their leader is long, and they ask if we would prefer to speak to the cities leader."

"Tell them we would be honored, Hai," said Thor in a commanding but respectful voice.

Hai nodded and stepped forward with a slight bow, showing his respect towards the elf. Using his best Elfish-- which was spoken very slowly but with good accuracy-- he said, "We would be pleased to meet your lord. If he can help us it would be very good." Then Hai stepped back, giving a slight nodd to Thor, knowing that he did not convey the message as elequently as he wished.

[Arxia]

Dragoria, the Struggling Northern Port on the Dragon Peninsula

Dragoria was a city built out of a cliff. Granted, it was only a cliff about twenty feet above sea level, but a cliff it was. On the cliff side were two levels of merchant stores built out of the cliff like inverted terraces. More inland, though, was where the majority of the city was. Dug out of the solid rock that the cliff was made of so it could be used as a part of the defensive walls, the extra rock and stone was used to finish off the wall and build the Lord's manor.
The lower one had a patio that extended out about 25 feet from the top of the cliff, though. Placed there when the city was first built so a port could be made. Many ships could be docked, as the port was at least several hundred feet long, though about a third of the occupied port was for the Navy. Ramps from this lower terrace lead up to the second terrace where many merchants had shops where merchants galore had carts selling their various wares. From this second terrace, tunnels to the main city were dug.
The main city consisted of mostly slums, as most of the people in good economic standing in Dragoria were farmers that lived just outside the city. But when you got past the slums to the Lord's Manor on the edge of the city you are greeted with beautiful waterfall gardens. This was his first attempt at having Dragoria able to compete with some of the other more eloquent cities in Rivalia, to gain the King's favour and therefore money. But all the king saw was a military installation. Dragoria had started as the home of the Dragon Riders, until Southpoint was built on the southern end of the Dragon Peninsula. When it was the home of the Dragon Riders it was gorgeous, but when they left it devolved into slums, so the Lord made many programs to beautify the city like the other Elvish cities. But now the Lord of Dragoria was dead.
Killed while sleeping with his daughter. And no one yet knew it, so Ral had to use his time wisely to get out of the city. He peaked out of the cart, and saw a passing cart with stocks of wheat going out to the farms. He jumped into it. He'd be getting out of the city without exerting any energy.

Yor motioned for a map and unrolled it to show to the leader. "I am Yor, and we are here," he spoke while motioning to go along with what he said. "We will speak with the city's Lord soon, but first, where do you come from?"
The one who spoke up just a few moments later stepped forward, bowed, and spoke to his leader in a strange language Yor couldn't recognize. Then he stepped to the map and bowed to Yor before pointing at the large area of land to the east of Rivalia and saying, "Leader is Thor. We from Avara."
"Do you know of the Lumen, Thor?" Yor asked the leader pointing at Lumenor.
"Indeed we do," Thor spoke in Lumen. The one who had been translating scampered back. "Now that we have effective communication, shall you take me to the city's leader?"
"Right away. Have your party follow me, Thor and if you don't mind, mine will come also," Yor told him, with both speaking in Lumen. Yor began walking up the nearest ramp to the second terrace. Yor stopped and turned to Thor, "Do you wish a tour of the city or should we go directly to the Lord?"
"A direct route if you don't mind, but I must say, your port looks quite beautiful. Carved straight out of a cliff from pure stone. Marvelous," he remarked to Yor.
"Very well," and Yor continued on to the Manor noticing that Thor stayed behind at the port.

After about a half hour of travel, He arrived at the Manor and entered the lobby.
He walked up the stairs and bumped into the Lord's wife, "Hello, Yor," she spoke cheerily in River Elvish, "What brings you here?"
"I need to speak to the Lord, ma'am," he responded in River Elvish. She was a few inches shorter than him, one of the tannest elves he'd ever seen.
"I doubt you'll get him, his gaurds won't even let me in! Those doors are so thick, they wouldn't even know if he died and I can't go and keep him company? Damn them, you know!"
He spoke calmly to her, "This is for diplomacy, I'm sure he'll come out. He wants to be in the King's good graces and we've... Well, this is a chance to do that."
"Oh, excellant!" her moods brightened as she walked away.
Yor climbed the next flight and took an immediate right down a hallway. "The Lord isn't seeing anyone right now," a guard spoke to him.
"He'll want to come out," Yor spoke back, "We've made contact with a new empire. He could be Rivalia's first negotiator."
The other guard spoke, "Let'em in, you shit." He turned to Yor, "Sorry, Commander. He's new on the job."
The first guard yelled in panic from within the room, "Sir, are you alright?? Sir, what is the meaning of-" he cut off short. Yor and the other guard rushed into the room to see the Lord and his daughter, nude, in bed, peppered with arrows. Soon after, the Lord's, now, widow rushed in to the scene and screamed, then collapsed. The Lord's eldest son, Fallow, came next and was speechless.
Yor shook Fallow by the shoulders, "You have to take your father's mantle, boy. There is a new empire waiting to negotiate in the lobby and you don't have time to worry about this. You have to put on a mask, pretend you've been Lord for years now, act like this didn't happen, and speak on behalf of Rivalia." The boy was speechless but seemed to understand and determined to execute what Yor told him. "How is your Lumen?" Yor asked as he directed him out of the room.
"Bad. How were you so calm in there with all of that?" he asked Yor, as he realized what he had to do.
"Fine, I'll translate for you. They speak Lumen rather well, I'll be the medium. And experience boy. Experience. I'm just glad your twenty two. Had this happened sooner, we may not have anyone to negotiate with these people." Yor said as they rushed off to the harbour. Yor introduced Fallow to Thor and explained how he would be the medium of translation.
"What do you wish to discuss?" Fallow asked relatively calm-like, and Yor translated for Thor.

[***Note: If you haven't noticed, I colour coat by character, but I will use white for characters that aren't main characters by any means and are just for more information.***]

Chor had been the Lord's guard for twenty years but didn't know about this. Tells you something about people, he thought to himself. He was in utter shock, as he carried the Lady to her bedroom. She passed out and he moved just in time to catch her as Yor gave a pep talk to Fallow. Life was going to be chaotic for months with this. He thought about leaving the city as he set the Lady down on her bed and tucked her in. I suppose they deserve it, he thought, they did commit incest after all. Others had come in behind him to clean up the scene and everything concerning that would be cleaned up within a few hours. Roy was allowed to take off, but he knew chaos would soon come when the town learned the Lord had cheated on his wife with his daughter. He shivvered.