[SentaiPink]

The following thread is the coded letters sent between Orvich Mote Daulton and Zarkaylia. The messages are all written in a cipher, which Zark has the key for. The first letter arriving just before the disaster in Alroc.

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Orvich's first letter; It's encoded, no one could read it without the key. It's envelope is addressed to 'Elder' and has a wax seal, stamped with a simple bear print in deep red wax.

"Dear Zark,

I write to you on the night of my first day in Atarsis. I arrived safely, the trip, though long, was thankfully eventless. It was my arrival that was a harrowing experience. I can say for certain I was not prepared for any of this, but I have to do what I must.The paranoia here is so high, Because of Fargo’s blue eyes he had to stand beside a pyre before we were even let inside the kingdom... They've built a wall that spans for miles across a gap in a mountain range. The whole kingdom is operates on this deep paranoia and racism… it’s a ghastly erosion in a kingdom that may otherwise be a nice place, but I cannot over look what’s happened to see any good here...

I suppose an explanation is in order. We arrived to our destination to find festivities in town around the academy, and due to our tardiness, no orders awaited Daulton. The people in Atarsis seem to enjoy their fairs and this one was to celebrate the recapture of prisoners.

At the time I was not aware Atarsis even took prisoners, so far as I knew it rehabilitated its criminals. But this isn't apparently the case with Lucins and Xitians...

As I said, the celebration was for the recapture of escaped prisoners, An old Xitian man they'd beaten near unconscious named Bruno, and a young Lucin girl by Clair. I don't know what they did, but no one deserves what happened to them. The men of the Obsidian Tower (the prison they escaped) held a public execution, burning both alive while the crowd of people watched, and cheered. They cheered Zark... is this the sort of madness that the purges were...? I dare not sleep now, even though the hour is late for fear of hearing Clair’s cries again.. The man responsible for the atrocity is the one who runs the Obsidian Tower, hires it private guard and operates with impunity across Atarsis, a man by the name of Gottwald.

I can tell you I haven't seen such horrors since the war, and inside me I fear things will only get worse from here. I swore to both Fargo and Lord Daulton I would see Gottwald answer for this, that I would dismantle his forces, his power and everything he stands for until there is nothing left of him, his name or his house. I can't remember the last time I've felt such rage. It lingers like embers of a fire waiting for a chance to flare again. I fear what I may do. I fear what this place will and already has started to do to me. I am certain I am on the path of righteousness by seeking to undo Gottwald but I question if there is any true justice to be had in Atarsis...

What is this fresh nether I've brought myself to? To say I miss you and your council would be a gross understatement, I cannot fathom how to do this without you. I cannot sleep, I have been sick since the execution, my stomach refuses to keep anything down, my heart refuses to slow for rest. I think it will be only raw exhaustion that will see me rest, and that shall not be tonight. I will see this mailed out to you at first light, and I hope things there are going better than what has happened here. I am sorry I had left your side for this, but as ever, I have to uphold my duty and my word, I can only hope I can see this through without falling from the path of the righteous.


Orvich Mote Daulton
First Knight of Alroc
Champion of the House Daulton"

[Zarkaylia]

Zark's reply to Orvich arrive some time after the disaster in Alroc, sent just after the arrival to Nightveil. Zark's had to make do with what she had at the time.

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Zark's reply follow the provided code with perhaps one or two beginner errors, none impossible to figure out however. If one knows her handwriting this letter appears written in perhaps bit of haste. It is addressed to Fargo Daulton and the Champion of house Daulton. Curiously enough it's sealed with wax stamped with a familiar crescent moon intertwined with a star. It's simply signed 'Elder' as Zark's not dared the risk to give away name or location.

"Dear Orri,

I’m relieved to hear you’ve arrived safe and sound to your destination, though your tale leave me feeling saddened and horrified. I have thought of Atarsis as an ignorant young country, it did never come across to me as such a dark place. Indeed it reminds me of what I’ve heard of the purges and of what I’ve myself suffered in its wake.

I have faith in your abilities Orri. You will remember who you are deep down and in the face of these horrors, you have your husband to lend comfort, support and strength. I wish I could do more than give you words on a paper for help.

Remember dear friend, this appears a battlefield of politics. Your physical strength may only serve you so far, don’t forget to keep your wits about you and to watch your words carefully as much as you watch others’. Watch your own and Fargo’s back. This man you speak of may not be so easily taken down and unlikely so without a fight. Control your anger over the man, I know you can, and channel the energy it gives you to do something that will aid your cause better than punching faces. Eat and rest, remember that you need your strength to see justice served and to save others from same fate as those two suffered.

I wish I had better news to counter yours with but I do not. This letter likely arrives later than expected. There’s no pleasant way to tell you that Alroc have perished. One night, the dam broke and we’ve had to flee our home. Alroc is no more than a lake and as you read this, we have sought a new home a week by sea from our lost home. This new town, Nightveil, is abandoned and sailors speak of curses. I’m yet to find out why that is, I’m writing this as we’ve just arrived in order to send it with the ship that brought us here. Nadia was injured in the destruction of Alroc, but otherwise we’ve been in luck and escaped without casualties.

It is a great loss and I find myself a little numbed. I had put a bit of my heart into Alroc since I became its Elder and I’m certain Victor is doing much worse. Furthermore, the time’s come for my son to leave for Provensia. For now he’s to wait for Netha’s wedding in Auria but after that he will leave. I don’t have a good feeling about it and wished I could be there for him, but my place is here and the battle is his, not mine. I find I miss you greatly, dear friend, and wish we could sit down as we used to and just talk.

I will remember that perhaps Atarsis have people working outside the kingdom. I’m to travel to the Mainland after the wedding you see. I’ve received a call for aid from my old friend Jolene that I can’t ignore. I will be very careful, I promise you that.

Best of luck, dear friend.

Elder"

[SentaiPink]

*The letter is written in the same code as the ones before, the penmanship is sloppy. This letter was hurriedly written.*

Zarkaylia,

I am sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written you. You have my deepest and most sincere apologies for the lost of Alroc.

Atarsis isn’t a young country, as you said. It’s an old one, deeply jaded from it’s history. I managed to complete my mission, but… it was all for naught. I wish I had appreciated more of your distaste for Edan Daulton when you’d expressed them after I met him. He used my righteous fury to further his agenda. He manipulated me and my sense of duty.

Edan murdered King Charles of Atarsis in front of his people and usurped his throne. He’s brought chaos into Atarsis and attempted to have Fargo and myself… killed. We’re standing on the brink of a civil war, we’ve few men that were once Edans, but they see what he’s doing as criminal as it is. They’re loyal, battle tested, it’s something. I fear I am facing another civil war.

I never wanted to go to war again. But there are good people here in Atarsis, none have deserved what I’ve seen Edan do. Nor what he is currently doing. Daulton and I are going to do what we can, but given the situation, I don’t know when I’ll send word again. For now, I have my life, my beloved, and men at my back to see we press on. I face a master tactician, I can’t tell you what my plans are or where I’m going. I miss you. I will try to keep safe and carry your wisdom with me as we proceed.

Be safe, Don’t write. Nothing comes in or out of Atarsis, I’ll write again when this hopefully changes.

Orvich

[SentaiPink]

*The letter is clearly written in Orvich’s handwriting. The paper it’s written on is fine, the handwriting neat, and once again encoded. It is several pages long.*

"My dearest friend Zarkaylia,

It has been over a year since the king has died and the violence in Atarsis has finally come to an end. For the most part. So much is changing now it’s hard to say if it’s truly the same country anymore. No less, there are things I say in this letter that must never be repeated aloud. I am sure you will know what I mean when I get to it.

I will try and explain things from the beginning, as I know a lot has happened and there's much to explain. I told you of the executions, of my rage and fury over them. I jumped at the change Edan Daulton gave me and Fargo to bring down the man responsible. We searched the countryside and found the escaped prisoners. A young Xitian woman named Seri, A Lucin man named Javar, and a lucin infant whom we ended up calling Clark. The Xitian woman had been kidnapped outside of Atarsis and brought to be imprisoned at the tower a few months ago. The man Javar was an admitted spy, and had been in the prison for the better part of a decade, as a result he was not only unhinged but had been mutilated. He’d one arm, and lost the other to an ‘experiment’ to see if his powers were connected to his limbs or his person. But that was not the most sickening of this. The Lucin woman I saw executed, Clair, Clark was her son. She had been raped and given birth to him in the prison. He was not more than a few months old when we found them. They were all starving and weak. They couldn’t defend themselves nor care for the baby. So, We collected them and tried to convince them we’d smuggle them out of Atarsis for their help exposing the tower.

We weren’t even sure this was something that could be done. Or would be done. We made no promises because the kingdom of Atarsis was sickly and rotted at its core. We somehow managed to convince them to help anyway. Though both knew.

When we returned to the capital of Penndragon there was a buzz about the castle in regards to some sort of party. That night the king announced he was retiring, King Alwin had to be in his 80’s or maybe even older, frail with age he was going to let his son Charlies become King of Atartsis. I found myself at odds in the situation, it was a great ball, but there was unexpected company. Queen Regent Jessume was in attendance as she was courting one of Charlies’ sons. It was uncomfortable for me. Eventually her mouth got her in trouble because she made an offhanded comment to Edan and got herself slapped for it. No one seemed surprised he’d struck a sovereign, and Prince Charlies only told her she should've known better than to have made the comment. She left in a fury after that.

Fargo was given orders to set out for the Atarsis gate in the morning. I had my obligation to protect the prisoners in my care from anymore cruelty, so we were seperated at this point. Edan was eager to move on with Gottwald and the following day the council was summoned and a trial was held. We’d rooted out his contact and supporter in the council, and without their support Edan had him imprisoned and we had inadvertently helped Edan prove to the council he could have any one member removed if they opposed him.

This is when everything went mad. As the days passed I’d asked repeatedly for my prisoners to escort them out of Atarsis but the orders didn’t come before Alwin was suddenly found dead in his chambers. The castle went into lockdown as they searched for his killer. I knew by then something was very wrong. I tried to get answers from Edan but he was too far gone in his plans to really speak with me. When Prince Charles went to speak to his people about what happened and him rising to the throne, I was standing behind him. Baby Clark was in a sling against my chest. I was armed, I was standing right there… And I watched as Edan Daulton shoved his sword through Charles’ chest. He blamed him for Alwins death and declared himself king. I… I did nothing. I didn’t stop him, I didn’t fight him. I couldn’t… I want to say the child in my arms stayed my hand but I’m not sure anymore. I was sworn to protect the house of Daulton, to stand beside them and I had carried the name with pride while trying to make things better here… But I was reviled by what I witnessed. I fear it froze me in place when he did this… I’m ashamed to admit that I was left conflicted by duty and my sense of honor.

He let me leave with the prisoners, to escort them out of Atarsis. I thought this was to get rid of me, or to see to my death along the way… We reached the Atarsis gate to find bodies strune about, signs of battle everywhere. I feared for the worst as I banged on the gate house door. Eventually it opened and Fargo was unharmed. He and a small group of men had found out about Edan’s work when Edan sent men to kill them. They were a scant few and were barricaded inside awaiting another attack.

It was there I wrote you my last letter… I also wrote to Jessume in Orathan. I asked for her help, and sent word to you that I would not be able to communicate again. I am not sure how to explain the next few months. They were long and cold. Fargo and I gathered what men we could, we found whole towns burned, people butchered for opposing Edan. I’d not seen horrors like it since the war. In spite of the tactical position, Edan never attacked the gate. He let reinforcements from Orathan arrive in the form of a few mercenaries, food, armor and weapons. We realized that Edan was throwing people who opposed him in prison, so we raided the black tower only to find that he’d done nothing to change it, my prior campaign against it had been pure posturing on his part. The conditions inside were horrific. We’d arrived in time to stop some of the guards from raping more of the mesalian prisoners, but there were so many we were too late for. I almost broke. I had to lock myself into a room for everyone's safety… We ended up releasing a number of prisoners. A few Xitians joined us for the opportunity at revenge, though at the time they were weak, scrawny things incapable of producing a flame. But they would prove themselves capable in time. We also freed a group of women that had stood against tradition and wished to be knights. They looked up to me as a hero. I am still not sure if I like that feeling. I have never felt as such… The rest of the prisoners and the surviving guards we exiled outside of Atarsis.

Our numbers did not swell quickly. We struggled for each soul that joined our ranks, and we were still not even a threat to Edan’s Knights that protected him in the capital. We received word that Edan was transporting a prisoner of interest, but there were decoy carts as well. We split our forces… Fargo and I each lead a force and the mercenaries were lead by Fargo’s best man, a Lieutenant Hickman. I had been fortunate enough to have the person of interest in the carriage I’d gone to attack. It turned out to be the prince of Atarsis and the true king, Sigmund. We waited at the rally point, eventually Hickman returned, and then a handful of Fargo’s men… They told me Fargo was dead. That he’d died protecting them…

I can’t… describe anything more horrible than that moment. I road back to the gate in silence. Hickman tried to remind me they needed me to lead them now... But how could I lead them? I’m not from Atarsis, and the whole reason for my being there was gone… My whole being felt gone. I was hollow and empty. I felt like a husk, just skin that moved because there was nothing else for it to do, but nothing remained inside. Sigmund was a blessing. He managed to help us rally more men, the citizens of Atarsis rose up to defend their homelands from the false king. It became a proper war at that point… Not that there is anything proper to be said about war.

I pressed forward because I had no other direction I could go. Sigmund is a charismatic leader but he isn’t commander. He’s no experience or taste for war, but he wouldn’t be Edan’s mouth piece and when he became rebellious he was shipped out. So it all fell upon me to lead. I will admit the only thing that pushed me forward was revenge. I would undo everything Edan had done in the name of my beloved, and when his kingdom burned around him I wanted to crush his skull in. I dreamt of it often… I thought about it while cutting down his men… I let the hate just consume me, because atleast then I felt something.

As we finally started to reach a number large enough to make threats against the capital of Penndragon we found out that Fargo had survived. That he was Edan’s prisoner, I would not have believed it had I not been smuggled into Penndragon at the time he announced it, and his plants to undo the rebellion. He was using the princes to legitimize his throne, Sigmund's younger brothers his captives still as well. It was after this we started to lay our plans to take the capital. He’d more men, better armed and trained, but we’d Xitians, we had all that was righteous and just on our side. He had to be stopped, Fargo, or Roe, as he goes by now, had to be saved...

With the help of the Xitians and the lives of many brave men who wanted better for Atarsis, we managed to enter the city, but as I said, we were out numbered, Edans men were better armed and trained… we stood a good chance of losing and things were getting bad for us. But then a group of Lucins arrived. Javar had returned with reinforcements that helped us cut through to the castle. Edan appeared on the balcony over looking the town square and the fighting. He held Roe at sword point. Roe broke free and we managed to get a weapon lobbed up there to him without hurting him. Roe ended up being the one to take out Edan, I can’t imagine the pain of having to slay his own father. Mad with power he may have been... His death brought the surrender of the last of his men.

Throughout all of this, the military of Atarsis didn’t get involved. They’d remained in the mountains, given the divisive nature of all of this, it was better they had not. Sigmund had been forced to order them to the mountains before he’d rebelled against Edan and this was one of the only reasons we were not crushed by Edans forces…

Sigmund had seen what absolute power did in the wrong hands and when the fighting had ended he told his people he would dissolve the monarchy in favor of a sensate. That he would give his people a voice. I… I don’t know how this form of government is supposed to work, and I was at a loss as to what place, if any, a knight such as myself would have in it.

I learned later Sigmund intends to give me a senate seat as head of Atarsis’ military. Roe was given the Daulton Knights, and also a senate seat as such.

But now we get to the truth of matters. Edan’s fight against us seemed half hearted. Obvious choke points and weaknesses in our defences were never exploited. Edan is known for being a master tactician and this didn’t make any sense until recently. We received a letter from Edan, he’d written it before he died and the man who delivered it was given the order to do so upon his death.

Edan admitted he orchestrated everything. That his most loyal knights were either retired, killed or kept with the military and instead his ranks filled with mercenaries and sell swords. He’d built himself a disposable army and put together a grand play of violence and bloodshed all in the name of change. He said he wanted dramatic change for Atarsis and that would never happen without something extreme. So he named himself king, he killed off the noble houses and families, murdered the corrupted council… his butchery was to ‘better’ Atarsis and Roe and I were just his puppets in all of this…

From the very beginning, I have done nothing but play pawn on a chessboard too broad a scale for me to see or understand. I should've known. I should of worked out what all these inconsistencies were sooner. I lead men to their death while playing a roll Edan had decided for me before I ever arrived in Atarsis. I’m disgusted by my part in this… He tried to claim all the changes to come to Atarsis are only capable because he made it so…

I am angry and disgusted and I just can’t feel like I deserved the laurels given to me. But I can’t deny them either. To turn down this would leave Sigmund without clear support for his senate, which he will desperately need to succeed…

I can’t focus on Edans part in this, it turns my stomach too much. Instead I try to remember the end result of everything I’ve been through. Women are allowed to attend the academies just the same as men now… Xitians and Lucins are allowed to freely travel throughout Atarsis… Every citizen will have a voice instead of all bowing to a single family… It… it is an alien way of running things for me, but I hope it succeeds…

Roe and I would like to visit at some point. Understandably things are a little crazy here, but maybe you could come see us. I do mean it when I say you would not be in danger here anymore then you would in any other kingdom in the mainlands… I look forward to hearing from you and having better new for future letters.

I miss you. Please take care.
Commander-in-Chief Orvich
Atarsis Military Command
Senator of Military Operations"

[Zarkaylia]

[This short letter appears written with unusual care and bit slowly for being Zark. Her handwriting's more simple than its usual bit aggressive and sharp tilted cursive. It's also filled with corrections and errors in the used code, Zark have struggled to put the letter together while she was still sick.]

My dearest Orri,
It’s with joy and relief I received your letter. While I’m sorry you had to go through all what you describe, I congratulate you on your success. You have grown and I feel proud for you, my friend.

Thank you for your invitation, I’d gladly come for a visit. However, I’ve gone through difficult times that have left me too sickly to travel for a long while now and I recently hit my head as well. I’m currently too weak and still suffering seizures as I write this.

Thus I have to leave this letter short. Once I’m well, I’ll write another, longer, one for you. Don’t worry, my granddaughter and my nephew take good care of me. Expect another letter soon enough.

I really miss you as well. Take care.