What's this? A grungey-looking sheet appears to have been posted to your local notice board. A parchment displaying propaganda, noticeably. The hand-writing was unpleasant, the parchment itself dirt-stained and of low quality. A new contender now dons the mantle. Like the waves of the Shore, the pieces of the game remain ever in motion... No longer. The game has changed. A million pieces refuse to be moved an inch further. Have you heard their whispers? -_-_- "Unified Empire? Don't be a lunatic. The capital forgot about us long ago, the stinkin' egotists." "Habre los ojos, pana! 'No Lands Left Behind'. You don't see what this means? It's salvation! It means salvation! They're going to save them!" [-_-_-_-_-_-_-] "So just like that, the Chancellor has been usurped? "Usurped? Of course that's something you'd say, Countess. The man had it coming. He wasn't strong enough. It was about damn we voted a Daen into power. Spirit, was the idea really ever so disturbing? Bloody Regalians." "Right. Because the Anahera was no anomaly himself." [-_-_-_-_-_-_-]"More promises, always promises. It's no different than it's ever been. I can only wonder what on Aloria might have compelled my son to believe they're actually going to lift a finger this time around. "Father, will you just read it? She's bolstering the Defense Ministry-- war time privileges. Powers for a draft... Why else do any of this? The finger's already been lifted. This a game to you? Chancellor Reinard has been replaced. There's a Daen Chancellor now. You know Daens, we don't fuck around when elves presume to threaten us. "F*ck a draft. I'd be the first one on the frontline if all these blabbering bureaucrats would just send us off already. I would see myself dead among 10 slain knife-ears before ever surrendering my home to them." [-_-_-_-_-_-_-] "Conscriptions. It's all I've been hearing about today. We just got out of the living hell that was Sendrassia, and this is what we get?" "They won't send us anywhere. I overheard a Playero claiming he'd spied on the Imperial Marshal some time ago. Old silverwolf said he'd sooner call every suzerain levy in the Empire to the defense of Daenshore before conceding it to the Allorn." "You been drinkin' again, Diego?" "Swear it to the Spirit, the Void, Estelle and every other blasted myth on Aloria- heard him with mi own ears. I sure as Void wish those Allorn cronies had the balls to try something. They're outnumbered 5 to 1. Do those smelly, tomb-risen mongrels even have a navy?" [-_-_-_-_-_-_-]"I don't care what anyone says! Everybody knows-- the plantations... th-they're Allorn puppets! I-it was an act of aggression! They... killed them all. My aunt, my cousin... all those innocent lives... Basqlierra, gone! Torched to the ground! Ashes! And we do nothing??" "Stop yapping, lass. Here's a regal... go buy your dead aunt a damned flower.... and while you're at it, go find somewhere else to cry, alright?" "You mark my words, old man! War is coming! No lands left behind.. No Daen left behind!" [-_-_-_-_-_-_-] Perhaps not every piece requires a hand to move it. Have you heard their whispers? Whether alone or with the guidance of a hand... they march. Do you blame a piece for returning to its box? When duty calls... will you lend your own hand?
The Villiers scowls under his helmet as he stares at the paper. A heavy sigh escapes the man as he turns and walks away.
“Duty duty...The Allorn will have razed Ithania and The Daenshore by the time anyone heads there. Their empire could probably sound a death knell to this land of yours...and my family’s own within Ithania as well,” Zara sighs, “we are fucked.”
