Today is the day I come of Age.
My mother, rest her soul, wrote these words in the front cover of the journal she left with my caretakers the day she sailed west. Grandma Marjorie gave it to me today, on my 16th birthday, at the end of a long day of ceremony and revelry. I am finally of age.
I believe I was a just and kind ruler, and that I left a legacy that you will be able to use to exceed those feats which I became known for. It is for the same purpose that I write these words for you here. Out beyond the coastal waters, beyond Kreschia Lagoon, our ships have found dangerous currents and rough seas. An archway, a hundred feet tall, rises from the ocean with a terrible and discomfiting majesty. It is to this archway that I set sail for on this day. I fear I may not return. In my stead, I have left you in the care of your Grandmother Marjorie. She has been instructed to pass this on to you when you come of age. I hope that I have chosen well, and that she has taught you the ways of ruling.
The islands near our coast, Isle de Bjork, Barrenwood Isle, Cinsparr and Kaesich are rich with resources. But we are not the only ones searching for this wealth, others, like Restonia, vie with us for access to these goods. They have little compunction using methods less amiable towards the natives to obtain what they want, but I expect you to remember these words; When you act upon the world, it acts upon you in kind.
Know that I love you, daughter, and that what I do is of such importance that even though it means leaving you lying in your cradle with nothing but a necklace and my crown to remember me by, I still must do it. Rule justly, and raise our people's spirits up through good works and glorious actions. The peace between provinces hangs by a thread, and we must be prepared to protect our fair land once it breaks. Trust in the bounty of the sea, and you will prevail.
It seems only fitting that underneath her words, I write the dream that has consumed me, as it must have my mother before me.
Far to the west, through a stone archway that glows in the setting sun, among waves of red and gold, I see myself wielding artefacts of great power. I see caches of riches to decorate the finest of courts, haphazardly piled together in crumbling ruins. I see dark ships, in foreign livery, racing to be the first to arrive, but I know that glory shall be mine, and mine alone.
