#exilidor

From the dark, dank labyrinths of the Smoke Gate, rising past the ash, the soot, and the rest of the city, stands the Bruhes Castle. A beacon of honour and strength to all those who live in Orsand and beyond, in the kingdom that spans the Bluewater’s domain.

The castle's walls, ornate in themselves, shine a golden sandstone colour imbued with beautiful emerald and gold motifs, indicating the wealth and luxury of the family behind the walls.

Servants moved back and forth in the afternoon light as rain struck against the uyurica shutters, drawn when the downpour had started. An anxious air wafted through the stronghold, like the angry dark clouds before an oncoming storm. It clung to the walls and lingered in the minds of all who lived and worked in the palace.

King Nixoh Bluewater, the first of his name, the blue-eyed king, lord of Ergen and the emerald throne sat at a grand desk made of stunning red bolelisha wood found in the nearby forest. Stacks of parchment piled high on each side as stern eyes scanned over each word, mutely reviewing the reports.

The king, the longest-known royal to reign, was seen as a stern diplomat. Eager to resolve issues that could not be handled with discussion, with violence. His reputation was established, as the elf who led the victory at the battle of Bluewater, from where his namesake arose.

The reports were worrisome. War in the northern lowlands, talk of a stubborn human lord. At first, it was believed discontent was the cause. But, as days turned to weeks and rolled on to months, it was more than discontent. Insurgence had spread from the eastern Larhelle, a town dominated by a human population. They had scattered like ke’thor, destroying the local Arcarres Timberland and spreading along the Calevo Coastline.

Report after report spoke of men falling, of humans with their weapons and their desire to overrun and consume everything in their path. Typical behaviour of their species, they wouldn’t get as far as the Ronosh, Nixoh was sure of that.