Kingdom Stance
Author's Note (since the Comments aren't working right now):
I know no one ever really reads these (Heck, I know I sure don't.), but on the off chance that someone does (and on the same off chance that ratings actually start working again), I'd like to request that everyone hold off on rating this story until it has at least 100 rooms so that I may give a proper amount of depth to all five of the characters.
I realize this may seem like asking the impossible (especially since my stories never seem to get that large), but I'm attempting a vow to write at least 5 rooms a day on this one (no matter how bored I get with it or how much I feel like quitting - which happens a lot, as luck would have it) so it should be up to where I wouldn't mind it being voted on in about a month.
Now, given that most people will be tempted to rate the story before ever reading this, I hope that now that you have, you feel appropriately badly for having done so. If you are the rare person that reads everything before doing anything, congratulations, and please try not to rate this story yet.
Thanks,
Michael R. Holt
I now return you to your regularly scheduled story...
---
"Man the battlements!" cries the Prince. The young celebrity prince Mark has spoken and a dozen archers leap to their places. While necessarily lacking in actual battle prowess and stamina, Mark commands respect with his position and intimidates through sheer authority.
Hearing the cry from the hoardings, John reassures himself that a barrage of help is soon on the way. Having taken the brazen position at the front via the castle's secret exit through the garderobe, he fights off the Accadian first assault nearly single-handedly. John fights with true Paladin spirit and resolve, as one who has truly devoted himself (sometimes even naively) to his potentate.
As the populace scurries within the immediate outer walls of the castle toward the safety of the inner walls, Andrew can be found tending the wounds of fallen soldiers with his WaterTaming skills. As a random few catapults' flaming payloads make their ways into or over the outer walls, he is not short of work. Little is known of Andrew's age, except to say that he is quite wise and ancient, as his powers of healing and restoration have kept his body from showing visible signs of aging.
Deep within the castle walls, a duke, "vacationing" at court, clutches his singed hand that he has withdrawn from the door's heated metal ring.
"You'll pay for that, Jezebel!" he scowls.
"I hardly see how, Duke Wellsley," she grins. "Now leave, before I heat your tunic as well!"
Jezebel, a Calahnian FireTamer and general seductress, did not take kindly to the fact that the duke was leaving her lusty embraces to take part in the war that had come to the castle at Erech. Though her power over fire was nearly complete, it always threatened to consume her.
Miles away, oblivious to the fact that war has come to Erech at all, the young neophyte Herbalist Tamar has been gathering roots, leaves, and seeds all day for her latest alchemic concoction. The bounty of nature itself lends its aid to her every endeavor, and her potions and poultices are known to be the strongest in all of Mizraim.
Here in the world of Logos, war wages, kingdoms stand and fall, intrigue threatens to topple from within, and nature consumes from without. Little is known, but you must make a choice here and now of whose story you will embrace. Good luck.
You will become...
I know no one ever really reads these (Heck, I know I sure don't.), but on the off chance that someone does (and on the same off chance that ratings actually start working again), I'd like to request that everyone hold off on rating this story until it has at least 100 rooms so that I may give a proper amount of depth to all five of the characters.
I realize this may seem like asking the impossible (especially since my stories never seem to get that large), but I'm attempting a vow to write at least 5 rooms a day on this one (no matter how bored I get with it or how much I feel like quitting - which happens a lot, as luck would have it) so it should be up to where I wouldn't mind it being voted on in about a month.
Now, given that most people will be tempted to rate the story before ever reading this, I hope that now that you have, you feel appropriately badly for having done so. If you are the rare person that reads everything before doing anything, congratulations, and please try not to rate this story yet.
Thanks,
Michael R. Holt
I now return you to your regularly scheduled story...
---
"Man the battlements!" cries the Prince. The young celebrity prince Mark has spoken and a dozen archers leap to their places. While necessarily lacking in actual battle prowess and stamina, Mark commands respect with his position and intimidates through sheer authority.
Hearing the cry from the hoardings, John reassures himself that a barrage of help is soon on the way. Having taken the brazen position at the front via the castle's secret exit through the garderobe, he fights off the Accadian first assault nearly single-handedly. John fights with true Paladin spirit and resolve, as one who has truly devoted himself (sometimes even naively) to his potentate.
As the populace scurries within the immediate outer walls of the castle toward the safety of the inner walls, Andrew can be found tending the wounds of fallen soldiers with his WaterTaming skills. As a random few catapults' flaming payloads make their ways into or over the outer walls, he is not short of work. Little is known of Andrew's age, except to say that he is quite wise and ancient, as his powers of healing and restoration have kept his body from showing visible signs of aging.
Deep within the castle walls, a duke, "vacationing" at court, clutches his singed hand that he has withdrawn from the door's heated metal ring.
"You'll pay for that, Jezebel!" he scowls.
"I hardly see how, Duke Wellsley," she grins. "Now leave, before I heat your tunic as well!"
Jezebel, a Calahnian FireTamer and general seductress, did not take kindly to the fact that the duke was leaving her lusty embraces to take part in the war that had come to the castle at Erech. Though her power over fire was nearly complete, it always threatened to consume her.
Miles away, oblivious to the fact that war has come to Erech at all, the young neophyte Herbalist Tamar has been gathering roots, leaves, and seeds all day for her latest alchemic concoction. The bounty of nature itself lends its aid to her every endeavor, and her potions and poultices are known to be the strongest in all of Mizraim.
Here in the world of Logos, war wages, kingdoms stand and fall, intrigue threatens to topple from within, and nature consumes from without. Little is known, but you must make a choice here and now of whose story you will embrace. Good luck.
You will become...