Thread: Under the Thumb of a Tyrant (Valanaer x Swagbeast)

The very instant Cain breathed the term 'denial' Ammon smirked. It was momentary fleeting, but if one were studying her altogether stoic expression it would have seemed quite out of place. You've never been to Pala have you, general? Her lips were stained by the hippocras giving her an eerie aura. She licked them, steadily guiding herself over to a beaten throne there the cathedral's bishop once sat. Her eyes glowered, even more so from the pallid moonlight dusting the pert hills of her cheeks. Pala is my home, often thought mythical because it is seldom spoken of. But, I implore you to believe that it does exist and I am in fact Palan. She cracked her knuckles it resounded like a dirge of breaking bones. It's an archipelago riddled with estuaries and mangroves as far as the eye can see. About six months ago a man came to Pala ... your people would have called him a tyrant, but we, we call him a guest. Her eyes suddenly hardened. She was pratically glaring at Cain, her grip so tight about her hippocras that she was like to shatter the glass. He enslaved my people and slaughtered those who resisted ... simply because we did not have a god. He claimed that 'all godless men were a discrepancy and must be rectified'. To think, a complete stranger feeling so compelled to drive his religion down supposedly parched throats to quell nonexistant thirst ... it's ridiculous. She took another drawl, but this time she seemed to be using the mulled wine to pacify herself rather then drink leisurely as she had hundreds of times before. Pala has been governed by a triumvirate for thousands of years. As the Soul of Pala, it is my duty to ensure that my peoples' religious beliefs are protected. It is not the Body's worry to quell those who threaten religion, thus, it falls upon me to protect them. The moonlight bleeding through the panes overhead cast a demonic light upon half her body, leaving the other half encased in shadow. She looked as some exotic queen upon her throne of dying rubies chased with bronze and copper. Her people were her primary concern and she chose to protect them using any means necessary, even if war became the most viable option. Hespith was the tyrant's name. Before coming to Pala he rallied many men to his cause. He somehow managed to convince them that all godless men must die. The men that we have warred against, all Hespith's underlings and affiliates catspaws he's somehow managed to convert. Must we live in fear because we are devote pantheists? Should agnostics cower because they do not wear the flaming heart of the Red God on their breasts? Ammon came to realize she was growing livid, a trait that was often absent. She sighed, leaned back into her chair and loosened her jaw until it was lax. You are the one who is in denial, general. I am a merciful soul, albeit empathetic, and my heart bleeds for those who rise with Hespith because they deem religion so crucial. They do not understand how crucial Pala is to the balance of this world. Disturbing such a sacred place is the highest treason and must be dealt with accordingly. She clenched her jaw again. Hespith is an anomaly that must be annulled. If you do not understand this cause as Edmure, York and the others, you are unfit to be a general.