[IC] The Empires of Terra

[Kenny1]

Nanking Palace, Xi'an
--------

"Your Majesty" greeted Chen, à young water demon and best friend to the crown prince

"Well you seem excited" Ling observed with a smile. Chen always had been the antithesis to him, so cheery and upbeat. He was always the first one to crack a joke, and always an off colored one at that.

"Well either the graveyard flooded or there's a bag of bones at the City gates from the land of the damned."

"You shouldn't speak so ill of the dead Chen" Ling scolded, looking much more relaxed and comfortable.

"I'll have the guards bring him here." Chen said, already knowing what the crown prince would want. In many ways he was incredibly lucky to have Ling as a friend; if nothing else because he was never one for formalities and Ling made sure he was never punished for it.

Their close friendship had actually been feeding rumors of marriage since they were four, though neither had actually expressed interest out loud.
-----

City Walls, Nanking

"The Crown Prince has granted you an audience" announced a shaken sounding guard, as he prepared to lead the unholy beast to the palace.

[NecroKnight]

(I have to ask at that, if the Demon Kingdom hasn't interacted before? The Dead Lands formed around 300 years ago. And in that time, there hasn't been much interaction? Nobody curious on how, some skeletons suddenly popped up in a former religious region?)

The unholy beast in question, placed his hands together and bowed before the guard - a very ironic and strange thing to see from an undead lord. "Thank you for that, I hope, this can be resolved without bloodshed or conflict."

Turak in question, was very religious - having been the last High King, before their entire society went belly-up and then decided to re-awaken and reestablish itself. It was strange in itself that the Xian's were interested in them - since most living creatures, usually didn't venture into the (Un)Holy Lands, unless they planned something militaristic. Then they got a very rude awakening in the form of having undead soldiers charge their lines without fear - and the dead killing the living in troves.

[Kenny1]

(Ooc: Xi'an knew, but was terrified at the thought of dealing with the undead. It's also pretty isolated because it's surrounded by steep mountains and sits on a high plateau so there wasn't much motivation to contact you)

"Yes of course your Majesty" the leader said uneasily "His highness only seeks knowledge. We are unlike any people's you have met with before."

The journey was anything but silent, as the sight of the king sent children shrieking away and stores and homes slammed closed their shutters. Even at the palace servants and nobles fled from the ungodly sight, with guards lining every wall ready to protect their Prince should this thing be evil.

The crown prince had decided to host the meeting in a tea house located near the central garden. The only decor was a small table in the middle, behind which he sat.

The prince had a calm look, his nerves steadied by several pipes worth of weed, which lay ready to use once again.

"Welcome to The Kingdom of Xi'an your Majesty. I am crown prince Ling, your host." He said calmly, gesturing for the creature to sit across from him

[NecroKnight]

(Hehe, then most will be surprised at his reaction)

The Undead King in question bowed in reply, soon sitting similary to how Ling had been sitting. It raised a bony finger for a moment, pulling out a pair of beads from inside his armor - they looked rather old and worn, yet important to someone.

"In the Cycles of Life and Death, may the Wheel kept turning," he spoke, rather calmly and with meaning, before he placed them back inside his pocket inside his armor. Before taking ahold of his helmet and removing it. Placing it down next to him, despite for being a living skeleton his armor and equipment looked rather well made and kept intact. "Pardon, old customs."

"I am High King Turak Hallen, King of Arbiteros," he spoke, confirming the suspicion that the skeletons of the mountain kingdom were indeed the former living people. It also explained why the skeleton had a reason for such religiousity - since Arbiterosians had been rather religious.

[Kenny1]

Ling inhaled from the pipe to steady his nerves before replying "Xi'an is a nation of customs of unfathomable antiquity. You have no need to be self conscious of your traditions."

He reached out his arms to offer the king a chance to also use the pipe, though he was unsure if he even had lungs.

"May I suggest taking a hit? It's become quite fashionable to smoke in the past few decades."

[NecroKnight]

Turak in question took ahold of the pipe, mimicing what Ling had done and managing to take a breath. Albeit, being it due to magic or some other reason was unknown - before he handed it back. Good thing he wore gloves, that looked freshly made instead of the likely boney fingers underneath.

"Though I have lost the fine taste of such, its good to enjoy the customs behind it," he spoke.

[Kenny1]

"Agreed" he replied simply, setting the pipe back down on the table

Pausing to format his thoughts the prince asked "if I may be so bold, what happened your Majesty?"

[NecroKnight]

The High King looked down slightly at that, as if looking ashamed, before looking up once more. "Plague. My people were afflicted with a plague that killed in days - it spread quickly. No prayer or chant stopped it. As a desperate measure, we turned to the many necromancers that existed in our lands."

"They promised to preserve our people," he spoke, laughing slightly to himself. "...you can see they did. As this."

[Kenny1]

"The wrath of heaven" gasped Chen, using the Xianese name for the plague

"The plague that ravaged the continent for a century." Added Ling, after giving a glare to his friend.

[NecroKnight]

"You know of this?" asked Turak, suddenly curious about their knowledge of this type of stuff.

[Ewin Rysell]

Sir Ragnest Starkweather and Tyron Hearkdale set out across the dusty wheat fields to the edge of the Kingdom of Vaolos. Weary looking and carrying all manner of luggage apparel, they soldiered on, covering their faces with small brown mouth cloths to prevent the entry of whipped dust into their lungs. It was early morning and the sun was piercing through the clouds on a slant, hitting only certain areas of the wheat field due to the dust and the mist it was creating. It was a magical scene, but the participants in it were far from happy.

They had recently abandoned their estate, Ragnest had anyway, to flee the great civil war that had only recently broken out in Vaolos. But alas, they had no choice, to stay would mean killing ones brothers and sisters which neither Ragnest nor Tyron was too confident with.

"We should reach Nanking in roughly three months from now!" Ragnest shouted as he tried to be heard over the whirring mist. Glancing back over his shoulder to see a struggling Tyron he asked, "Tryon my friend. If your energies are failing I will wait behind for you".

"No m'lord" he replied, always eager to serve Ragnest whom he looked up to. "Although we should take care not to be spotted by the Xi'anese in our Vaolosian insignia, it might raise questions!".

"No, we will enter this country as honourable men as is our way of life! After all, if we forsake honour what hath we left but the clothes on our backs and our friendship. We have lost all else, and that is where it must end!"

Tryon expected to hear this; it was common for Ragnest to uphold honour, tradition and appearances at all times, but he worried, one day it would get him killed.

"What do you know of the Xi'anese m'lord!" Shouted Tryon, lifting his mouth cover up for a second to speak and then dropping it back promptly.

"Not a great deal unfortunately! I was always one for history but the Xi'anese were always a mystery, we have hardly any works on their culture and those who have entered their lands rarely return to document it! Not sure what that says about our current expedition!"

"No, I imagine it says a lot, but what other choice do we have?"

***

Three months from the aforementioned passage, and truthful to Ragnest's words they had arrived at the grand city of Nanking. They had only minor trouble along the way, passing unnoticed by a few patrols and struggling to communicate with the locals, but nothing too serious.

As they approached the magnificent pale gates they were greeted by various guards in, (what I assume is typical Japanese clothing). Gestured forward, the pair ventured into the city.

"Wow" said Tyron silently, quite unable to take in the scene that was before him.

The streets were filled with people running, trading and conversing all in magnificent colours of various shades and fabrics. The street itself looked as if it was almost paneled along the walls with the occasional shop or apartment filling in the windows and facets that sprung out from the otherwise flat edges of the street. The colours of the buildings themselves were rather pale, cream almost, but what stood out the most was the grand way up the palace. These were brick lanes, each continually paving their way up the palace which stood majestically over the city, its height and grandeur seen from every possible corner.

Both stood in amazement for at least a minute, this was quite different from their rural humdrum houses and manors. Even Vaolosian cities were relatively dull compared to the architecture here.

"3000 years and quarter of a million people" remarked Tyron, still unable to take his eyes from the great palace gleaming in the sun.

"Quite right my friend, but we must declare our presence to the king before we embark upon wild discussion and exploration of the city" replied Ragnest, once again inclined to follow strict rules of formalities.

"Then let us go m'lord, I for one am happy regardless of my place within this city. But, I do not like the bricks so much, I prefer gravel due to the sonic impression it makes on my mind" Tryon mentioned, giving Ragnest a mildy humorous look to which he returned.

[Kenny1]

It was Ling's turn to be embarrassed, though he didn't show it.

Taking on the tone of a story teller he began to narrate "There exist two types of beings, those of the earth and those of magic. According to legend those in heaven felt that the the balance of order had been disturbed by the intermarriage of these beings, humans with demons for example.

"In spite they sent a plague to erase the slate. A torturous disease that could even kill immortals such as us. It spread through the air and water, as if of a will of its own. Even the mountains around us provided no barrier for Xi'an.

"It cost us dearly, half our nation was thrown into the rivers as we had to way to bury them. The death was so overwhelming that the bodies formed dams in Vaolos before it was even called such. But, our ruler at the time, my father Emperor Beishu, was not one to back away from a fight. He mobilised our country to use science and magic to purge the kingdom, and as he willed so it was done."

[NecroKnight]

Turak sighed out at that, one might expect him to attack at that, but he sat there - not moving much a muscle. "Guess your science won over belief - but it doesn't explain much, on how the plague arrived to us," he spoke - namely on why it spread further and continue to ravage their people, when they did nothing.

[Kenny1]

The Tea Room, Nanking Palace
------------
"I'm afraid that we can not help you with that quest" Ling said with some regret "That information and our findings are top secret"

Gates of the Palace, Nanking
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"Halt!" Ordered an armed guard in Xianese as he saw the two men cross the courtyard that divided the palace from the rest of the city.

With a hard stomp on the ground the ground rose around the two men, forming four walls around them. The guard then shouted "What are you two doing in Xi'an?! I demand to see your paperwork."

(Ooc: He's asking for transportation papers, like a visa)

[ThatOneNewGuy]

'Hmm, there is one question I have' Mol began 'I assume there are customs for eating as well, I mean I wouldn't expect you to want me to be shoveling food into my mouth like I do back in Dargudig'. Mol gestured that he was about to get changed and waited for her answer.

[Kenny1]

Wu regarded him quizzically, as if unsure if he was joking.

"Have you never used chopsticks?" She asked as if the idea was laughable. Silently inside though she was dieing, she was the one assigned to keep him behaved and it looked like she had some late nights ahead of her

(Ooc: She's a handmaiden so she is used to helping men dress. Especially since some of the robes require help to put on)

[ThatOneNewGuy]

'Chopsticks? Like a sharp stick that you slice with? In that case no, I've found a dagger to be more useful than a sharp stick, is that some sort of tradition?' Mol asked, mystified. 'These Xianese certainly are weird' He thought to himself, although he suspected they would be more civilized than using sticks to eat.

[Kenny1]

Wu bit her lip hard as she resisted the urge to laugh. How could somebody eat without chopsticks? Suppressing images of orcs eating like dogs she collected her thoughts.

"You have much to learn. Let me change you so we can go teach you how to eat." She said

[NecroKnight]

@Kenny1

"As you wish," he replied, staring down at the Crown Prince - one could almost feel him squinting at him, like he was hiding something. "We, who have remained upon these lands, have the belief that since we still walk these because of a purpose."

"What is the purpose of you X'ians?"

[Kenny1]

"We make our own purposes, each and everyone of us. As crown prince, and future emperor, my purpose is to protect my people and provide for their happiness. So that they may each find their own purpose." Ling said while pouring two cups of mint tea

Xi'an, as the prince had noted, was not a nation that believed in destiny. Being ruled by demons from hell, all of whom had been there, gave the kingdom unique inside into the world beyond the veil. More specifically it's unplanned disorganized system that had no hierarchy to speak of.

"In Xi'an we believe it is the job of the government to protect and provide for its people. And the duty of the people to support the government in this endeavor. But no I am afraid that even the idea of destiny is unusual in my nation." Ling reiterated