Storyline pt. 5

*3 minute read - Glossary at the bottom* - *Special thanks to **Zhidao and Mokijn***

*[This page covers in-game progress up to and including Ancis]*

**The article "Storyline pt. 5" contains spoilers from the Raws!**
This article contains spoilers from the Raws and could reveal untranslated details. Do **not** continue reading if this is a problem for you.

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## The Westlands, the Lost Provinces

Located west of Monterre were the Westlands; where humanity originated from and, now, just refered to as Old Kovia. It’s capital, Ancis, was once a prosperous city and also the capital of the Empire, but had since been relocated after a major civil war. As a result, the Westlands’ human population had thinned out throughout the years, making way for different Minotaur and Cimmeran tribes to lay claim to the lands as their homes. However, the way all these various groups and factions share the land was problematic as they frequently clash against one another due to their difference in nature and thinking.

The heroes arrived at Westford, a makeshift fort, which was located where the Empire meets with the Westlands, securing the borders from Minotaurs and Cimmerans encroaching into the Empire's territory. The companions spoke with soldiers stationed there in the hopes of finding information about Bayard. There had been sightings in the area of someone who fit his description and the soldiers believed that person was captured by an aggressive Cimmeran tribe, the Stenhus. Having overheard their discussion, Hiddan Whispers, a local tracker, said he might be of assistance as he had on-going relations with a friendlier Cimmeran tribe, the Natulv.

 After some “negotiating” with Haddan and the Nutaluv, the heroes learnt that Bayard was being held at a location deep in the Stenhus tribe's territory. Making their way there, they found Bayard laying in one of the Cimmeran villages and braced themselves against the hostilities of the Cimmerans who despised outsiders. Fighting wave after wave, the heroes escorted Bayard away from the city to safety so that they can regroup.

While regrouping, they found Bayard to be in a delirious state, clinching onto the Vile Gestater while cries of a tortured soul echoed from the cursed dagger. Upon closer inspection of the weapon at the center of the Prince’s murder, they concluded that Medard’s soul must be contained within it as the ritual it was being used for had failed. Reynar took the dagger from Bayard, thus ending his (Bayard’s) cursed torment and handed him over into Lord Margrave’s care. Reynar was determined to save Medard’s soul from the Vile Gestater, and the companions continued westward to Ancis, the old capital of the Empire.

## Ancis, Old Kovia

Ancis, once the capital of Empire, was now just a charred and abandoned city where the empty windows greeted visitors like soulless eyes. Ancis was the starting point of the War of the Three Emperors, where Tertian retaliated against and prevailed over the betrayal of his brothers. He had become the new Emperor of Kovia, marking the beginning of a new Era and gave rise to Reynar, a champion of the War.

Once seeing the desolate and abandoned city, Reynar remembered and shared some key memories from the War from 20 years prior. He remembered trying to reach Emperor Tertian, as he and his retinue had been cornered in Ancis’s Basilica amid cultists raising the dead. At that time, Reynar was with the royal Empress Amalia Calsada Vir Meiz of the Tides, who had just married the Emperor 7 months prior. Empress Amalia was a skilled elven mage and, in attempting to reach the Emperor with Reynar, was met by Grand Delegate Ordric from the church whereby a battled precipitated. It was clear to the Empress that Ordric had stray quite far from the church, as she could sense the vile forces emanating from the Grand Delegate. As Ordric summoned more undead, The Empress and Reynar made their escape with with their lifeless foes close behind, only barely gaining refuge inside an old elven temple whose seal Amalia was able to bypass with ancient elven incantations.

Having just escaped a gruesome death, Reynar and the Empress spent some time alone together inside the temple until the coast was clear to reach the Basilica and save the Emperor. As retatiation, Reynar alongside the Emperor Tertian razed the city of Ancis, salted the lands and hunted anything that moved while ash and embers flurried through the air. It was with that vigour and determination that the War of the Three Emperors had concluded and Reynar was regarded as a loyal subject of the Emperor after the rescue; being awarded the Azure Star and promoted to Captain of the Iron Crown who guarded the Imperial family. However, it was around 9 months after that celebration that Prince Medard was born and Reynar knew it was unlikely that the Prince was the Emperor’s biological son.

## Lord Margrave, the Foreshadowing

Within the glow of a torch fire, Bayard laid resting in a bed inside of Lord Margrave’s tent. Under a starry sky, Lord Margrave had achieved one of his goals that night; having acquired Bayard with his blood of royal lineage. As Lord Margrave recalled the past, he reflected on knowledge he had gained during his entrapment within Basilica as part of Emperor Tertian’s retinue and the final battle; when he had gazed into the Rift of the Eye having flashes from the past that was purposefully hidden away. That knowledge had set Margrave on a path to seek the truths of old to attain the powers that brought about the rise of humanity. It was from a time when ruled the land with no morals or compassion and hunted humans for leisure. Animah, a being that had signed a pact with humanity, rose and brought freedom to humanity by having her Godly blood merged, thus forming the Imperial Bloodline. As the years went on though, the truths had been concealed by the Blind Saints, the rites and rituals dissipated from memory and the God Emperors of Kovia had been censored out of history. The old powers of Emperors, of Animah and Endiku, were unlocked with ritualistic implements, such as the Vile Gestater, were scattered throughout the Empire and the Council of Man, a highly organized cult which Lord Margrave was secretly part of, were collecting them. The destruction of Kovia at the claws of the hordes of the orcs, ogres, and minotaurs multiplying like vermins, and the rise of the Council of Man and the Elves were imminent and, despite the Emperor’s disposition against the cults, Magrave saw them as a source of hope and salvation for humanity, having been involved with the planning of the Medard’s ritualistic murder.

*To be continued...*

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