Eternal
Year 55
You and Brenda now rule the nation of Nalin as a married couple. There has been some issue on what your official titles are now. The simplest choices would be emperor and empress or king and queen. Eventually Brenda settled for imperatrix, which would officially make you imperator, though you still go by general for the most part.
In any case life has been good. You don’t even mind that things have been slow since you conquered all those tribals in the east. You’ve been taking a slightly more active role in running the nation from an administrative point of view, but sometimes you still long for the day of a good battle. When that day comes you’ve also tried to keep up on the changing times of changing warfare. While the days of close combat are far from over, if the Eternal Dominion is starting to slowly incorporate firearms into their ranks, then you better do likewise if only to maintain a show of strength.
The ED isn’t hostile though and you maintain a good trading relationship with them. Edgar still hopes you’re going to join him one day, especially since you know he’s got designs on going to war with the Felkan Kingdom (You gave him some friendly advice to not bother with invading Rask).
He’d probably like you to at least be involved in a joint military operation with him, but you think he’s over extending himself and the Felkan Kingdom is no pushover. It’s not exactly like you’re near the Felkan Kingdom as far as location is concerned either. All you’d be doing is having soldiers die in a war that doesn’t even directly benefit your nation.
That being said, Nalin hasn’t sided with the Felkan Kingdom either in any way. Again, due to your location, you’ve had minimal contact with them. Brenda thought about allying with them in the past, but that was never seriously considered (Good thing too). Somehow though you imagine you’re going to get dragged into this saber rattling between the Eternal Dominion and the Felkan Kingdom.
Funny how that feeling turns out to be true.
Late one night you and Brenda are awakened from your sleep. Some envoy from the Felkan Kingdom has sudden decided to show up in the middle of the night. Demanding to see the pair of you and claiming it’s very urgent. You and Brenda don’t get much sleep as it is, so you’re inclined to tell your soldiers to just shoot him and go back to bed, but you’ve got a good idea of who it is.
“You really think it’s him?” Brenda ask.
“You really think it isn’t? It was only a matter of time. Ugh, I guess we better get this over with.”
You shout at the guard behind the door to hold the envoy in the meeting room and keep a close eye on him until you and Brenda get there. After grumbling and getting dress you and Brenda head to the meeting room where you see a familiar face. He’s missing an eye, all of his hair and his face has a few more winkles and scars on it now, but you still recognize him.
“Warrick, you better have a damn good reason for waking us up in the middle of the night.” You say.
“…you aren’t surprised it’s me?”
“Not really, I actually thought you’d show up sooner, and how the hell did you manage to join the Felkan Kingdom anyway?”
“It’s a long story…but well anyway, I’m glad to see you both. I was surprised to hear about your marriage. Didn’t think that…”
“Warrick, I’m tired as well. It’s not easy running a nation and I’ve been doing it even longer than my husband has, so get to the damn point of the visit or let this wait until tomorrow.” Brenda demands rubbing one of her eyes.
Warrick looks a little hurt by your remarks, but he gets on with it.
“Very well, to business. The Felkan Kingdom wants an alliance with you.”
“Yeah sort of figured that. Anything else?” you ask.
“Erm, no, but…”
“Okay then, the answer is no. We can talk more about old times tomorrow, if you want. Good night.” Brenda says starting to turn around to go back to bed.
“Hey wait! No? Just like that?! You don’t even want to consider the benefits?” Warrick asks.
“What benefits? If we ally with the Felkan Kingdom, all it’s going to do is piss off the Eternal Dominion who we have a good relationship with diplomatically and tradewise. What is the Felkan Kingdom going to offer?” Brenda replies.
“How the fact that we’re more likely to leave you alone after the war with the Eternal Dominion is over?”
“Warrick…Warrick…you should know threats aren’t going to sway us.” You remark.
“What?! NO! I meant, argh look. What I’m saying is if the unfortunate should happen and the Eternal Dominion wins don’t you think that they’ll try to invade you next?”
“I suppose it’s possible yes.”
“Whereas if the Felkan Kingdom wins, we have no intention on even expanding our borders.”
“Probably true, but that still doesn’t help us during the war. A war that is really between you and the ED.”
“I can’t believe I’m trying to convince YOU of all people to go to war. I would’ve thought you would’ve jumped at this chance!” Warrick says in a raised tone.
“Things change Warrick, and just because I’m not jumping through your hoops doesn’t mean I’ve lost a taste for battle. But I’m thinking on a grander scale now. Going to war with the Eternal Dominion doesn’t do us or Nalin any good. It’s just going to result in dead soldiers at best. We’ve found that our continued expansion eastward is much better in building up the country. Maximum gain with minimum losses.” You say.
Warrick paces a bit and sputters. He obviously thought this was going to go better.
“So that’s it then huh? You just take Edgar’s side over mine. I thought you didn’t like him anyway.”
“Warrick, it’s not about taking sides. If you haven’t noticed we’re not exactly allied with the ED either. We trade with them and are on friendly terms, but that’s out of convenience more than anything. Trust me, Edgar’s been trying to get us to join for years. I don’t know what you’re even worried about, the Eternal Dominion is formidable I’m sure, but the Felkan Kingdom survived a war with the Empire. I’m guessing you should be able to handle the ED.”
“I don’t know if we can.” He calmly states.
There’s a moment of silence where you weren’t expecting him to say such a thing so blatantly like that.
“Look, I didn’t want to say anything. The Felkan Kingdom is what I serve now and I serve it to the best of my abilities as I did the Empire. To do anything less would be a failure as an Eternal on my part.”
“But?”
“But I see the weaknesses that we have and I can’t ignore them. It’s not public knowledge to anyone outside the kingdom, but we’re also suffering a large gnoll invasion from the west. It caught us completely by surprise. The Felkan Kingdom is a mighty nation, but right now it’s straining its resources just to stay alive. A war with the ED…and we all know it’s coming, could break us. The funny thing is I feel like I’m in the Empire all over again. You know during the bad times.”
“I think they were ALL bad times Warrick. We just made the best of them.” Brenda says.
“Perhaps. (sigh) I guess I can’t convince you ally with us, I mean you’ve got a good thing going on here and you shouldn’t wreck it. I’m glad. Glad that some of us are doing well. But couldn’t you at least break off your trade routes? I mean that would at least cause Edgar’s attention to be diverted. He might suspect you’re up to something and not attack the Felkan Kingdom. At least not right away. It might be enough time for us to put up a better defense.”
“Yeah and he might also attack us instead.” Brenda remarks.
“I don’t think he will, because then he has to divert his own soldiers and resources and then he’ll be worried that we will attack. He can’t fight a two front war, even Edgar’s smart enough not to risk that. And that’s if he dares fighting you in the first place.”
“That’s a big if, there Warrick.” You say.
You and Brenda tell Warrick you’ll both discuss this in a little more detail outside. He says he understands and will await your decision.
You and Brenda don’t have too much to talk about really, since it’s basically coming down to helping out a former comrade in arms and starting a possible war with another one or avoiding the situation entirely. Brenda is for staying neutral; oddly you’re actually of two minds of this.
You and Brenda now rule the nation of Nalin as a married couple. There has been some issue on what your official titles are now. The simplest choices would be emperor and empress or king and queen. Eventually Brenda settled for imperatrix, which would officially make you imperator, though you still go by general for the most part.
In any case life has been good. You don’t even mind that things have been slow since you conquered all those tribals in the east. You’ve been taking a slightly more active role in running the nation from an administrative point of view, but sometimes you still long for the day of a good battle. When that day comes you’ve also tried to keep up on the changing times of changing warfare. While the days of close combat are far from over, if the Eternal Dominion is starting to slowly incorporate firearms into their ranks, then you better do likewise if only to maintain a show of strength.
The ED isn’t hostile though and you maintain a good trading relationship with them. Edgar still hopes you’re going to join him one day, especially since you know he’s got designs on going to war with the Felkan Kingdom (You gave him some friendly advice to not bother with invading Rask).
He’d probably like you to at least be involved in a joint military operation with him, but you think he’s over extending himself and the Felkan Kingdom is no pushover. It’s not exactly like you’re near the Felkan Kingdom as far as location is concerned either. All you’d be doing is having soldiers die in a war that doesn’t even directly benefit your nation.
That being said, Nalin hasn’t sided with the Felkan Kingdom either in any way. Again, due to your location, you’ve had minimal contact with them. Brenda thought about allying with them in the past, but that was never seriously considered (Good thing too). Somehow though you imagine you’re going to get dragged into this saber rattling between the Eternal Dominion and the Felkan Kingdom.
Funny how that feeling turns out to be true.
Late one night you and Brenda are awakened from your sleep. Some envoy from the Felkan Kingdom has sudden decided to show up in the middle of the night. Demanding to see the pair of you and claiming it’s very urgent. You and Brenda don’t get much sleep as it is, so you’re inclined to tell your soldiers to just shoot him and go back to bed, but you’ve got a good idea of who it is.
“You really think it’s him?” Brenda ask.
“You really think it isn’t? It was only a matter of time. Ugh, I guess we better get this over with.”
You shout at the guard behind the door to hold the envoy in the meeting room and keep a close eye on him until you and Brenda get there. After grumbling and getting dress you and Brenda head to the meeting room where you see a familiar face. He’s missing an eye, all of his hair and his face has a few more winkles and scars on it now, but you still recognize him.
“Warrick, you better have a damn good reason for waking us up in the middle of the night.” You say.
“…you aren’t surprised it’s me?”
“Not really, I actually thought you’d show up sooner, and how the hell did you manage to join the Felkan Kingdom anyway?”
“It’s a long story…but well anyway, I’m glad to see you both. I was surprised to hear about your marriage. Didn’t think that…”
“Warrick, I’m tired as well. It’s not easy running a nation and I’ve been doing it even longer than my husband has, so get to the damn point of the visit or let this wait until tomorrow.” Brenda demands rubbing one of her eyes.
Warrick looks a little hurt by your remarks, but he gets on with it.
“Very well, to business. The Felkan Kingdom wants an alliance with you.”
“Yeah sort of figured that. Anything else?” you ask.
“Erm, no, but…”
“Okay then, the answer is no. We can talk more about old times tomorrow, if you want. Good night.” Brenda says starting to turn around to go back to bed.
“Hey wait! No? Just like that?! You don’t even want to consider the benefits?” Warrick asks.
“What benefits? If we ally with the Felkan Kingdom, all it’s going to do is piss off the Eternal Dominion who we have a good relationship with diplomatically and tradewise. What is the Felkan Kingdom going to offer?” Brenda replies.
“How the fact that we’re more likely to leave you alone after the war with the Eternal Dominion is over?”
“Warrick…Warrick…you should know threats aren’t going to sway us.” You remark.
“What?! NO! I meant, argh look. What I’m saying is if the unfortunate should happen and the Eternal Dominion wins don’t you think that they’ll try to invade you next?”
“I suppose it’s possible yes.”
“Whereas if the Felkan Kingdom wins, we have no intention on even expanding our borders.”
“Probably true, but that still doesn’t help us during the war. A war that is really between you and the ED.”
“I can’t believe I’m trying to convince YOU of all people to go to war. I would’ve thought you would’ve jumped at this chance!” Warrick says in a raised tone.
“Things change Warrick, and just because I’m not jumping through your hoops doesn’t mean I’ve lost a taste for battle. But I’m thinking on a grander scale now. Going to war with the Eternal Dominion doesn’t do us or Nalin any good. It’s just going to result in dead soldiers at best. We’ve found that our continued expansion eastward is much better in building up the country. Maximum gain with minimum losses.” You say.
Warrick paces a bit and sputters. He obviously thought this was going to go better.
“So that’s it then huh? You just take Edgar’s side over mine. I thought you didn’t like him anyway.”
“Warrick, it’s not about taking sides. If you haven’t noticed we’re not exactly allied with the ED either. We trade with them and are on friendly terms, but that’s out of convenience more than anything. Trust me, Edgar’s been trying to get us to join for years. I don’t know what you’re even worried about, the Eternal Dominion is formidable I’m sure, but the Felkan Kingdom survived a war with the Empire. I’m guessing you should be able to handle the ED.”
“I don’t know if we can.” He calmly states.
There’s a moment of silence where you weren’t expecting him to say such a thing so blatantly like that.
“Look, I didn’t want to say anything. The Felkan Kingdom is what I serve now and I serve it to the best of my abilities as I did the Empire. To do anything less would be a failure as an Eternal on my part.”
“But?”
“But I see the weaknesses that we have and I can’t ignore them. It’s not public knowledge to anyone outside the kingdom, but we’re also suffering a large gnoll invasion from the west. It caught us completely by surprise. The Felkan Kingdom is a mighty nation, but right now it’s straining its resources just to stay alive. A war with the ED…and we all know it’s coming, could break us. The funny thing is I feel like I’m in the Empire all over again. You know during the bad times.”
“I think they were ALL bad times Warrick. We just made the best of them.” Brenda says.
“Perhaps. (sigh) I guess I can’t convince you ally with us, I mean you’ve got a good thing going on here and you shouldn’t wreck it. I’m glad. Glad that some of us are doing well. But couldn’t you at least break off your trade routes? I mean that would at least cause Edgar’s attention to be diverted. He might suspect you’re up to something and not attack the Felkan Kingdom. At least not right away. It might be enough time for us to put up a better defense.”
“Yeah and he might also attack us instead.” Brenda remarks.
“I don’t think he will, because then he has to divert his own soldiers and resources and then he’ll be worried that we will attack. He can’t fight a two front war, even Edgar’s smart enough not to risk that. And that’s if he dares fighting you in the first place.”
“That’s a big if, there Warrick.” You say.
You and Brenda tell Warrick you’ll both discuss this in a little more detail outside. He says he understands and will await your decision.
You and Brenda don’t have too much to talk about really, since it’s basically coming down to helping out a former comrade in arms and starting a possible war with another one or avoiding the situation entirely. Brenda is for staying neutral; oddly you’re actually of two minds of this.