Preview of future Story, Part 15 (Patreon)

Six-hundred miles away things were quite different. Outside of the Council Realms, the nation of  Bleakmorne was as violent a locale as the realms were peaceful. Ruled for the last century by the Sorceress Queen Ursulax, the military power had been the biggest threat to the Realms until the creation of the Wardshells. It was unknown how the monarchs of the Kalorath dynasty were so long-lived, but there were rumors that it was due to a pact with Occultia, the nation’s patron goddess. The Mistress of Things Hidden, as she was known, was the goddess of secrets, deception, plots, arcane powers, and every other underhanded thing from Assassination to Thievery.

Few rumors agreed on the details of the secret pact, for such is the power of Occultia, but most associated it with one peculiarity of Bleakmorne rule. Neither in the nation itself, nor its conquests, were demihumans welcome. A few centuries before the Wardshells, the rise of the new dynasty had been marked by massacres. Dwarves, Elves, Halflings, Orcs, and every kind of demihuman were targeted. Those who weren’t killed fled; the lion’s share arrived in the Realms, others in the free trading ports that called themselves the Confederation of the Coast. Afterward, war continued between Bleakmorne and the Realms, as it had for the living memory of the oldest living elves. But two centuries after the start of the massacres, the Realms were covered with the Wardshells, and enemy invaders could no longer do violence to the inhabitants. Of course, the Kaloraths didn’t stop. In addition to military aggression, spycraft had always been a hallmark of their strength. It wasn’t long until their rulers knew about the Wardshells, and it was rumored that understanding their operation was the chief goal of intelligence operations.

In that time, the Realms prospered in peace, while Bleakmorne stagnated. The Confederation, although officially neutral, also enjoyed the steady stream of wealth coming in from the Realms, even if their other neighbors, preparing for war and suffocating under peace, occasionally attacked their ships and caravans. While the High Admiralty of Portodorado had made overtures to the realms for official admission during the half-century after the Wardshells became active, the motion had gone nowhere. The other cities in the Confederacy, though not as large, guarded their independence and freedom jealously. Even the threat of the armies of Bleakmorne, constantly preparing for war but deprived of a worthy target, could not entice them to make the necessary concessions to join the realms. Over the years, this fervor to remain independent had cost the Confederacy both gold deniers and lives.