But she knew there was more at play, he had called upon old mystic powers, and brought cards in which magic had been bound to scatter armies and shatter forts, finally he had made a fatal trade with the worm, the rot, their patron… their patron that had decided to oblige him. and the dragon clan, the reptiles that had kept their strenght through besting their foes and absorbing their strength, were no longer with his blessing, it was not long after that all clans descended on them… ousting them from their ancestral home.
But they had kept their ears open, and the elders entrusted her with returning to wander the land and see it all.
She was Agniya the revenant, she had survived more kings than a merchant saw coins, and she had heard of the king,
heard that his orders and edicts were becoming irrational, heard of his guards attacking druids, stealing the ancient wyldstones to destroy them, of possession of such a stone being punishable by death… indeed she had heard of an otter suffering that exact fate, before being sprung by a self appointed bandit queen.
Yes, she had heard of the bandits, all having lost everything, ousted from society, slaughtered families and friends, instilling the thirst for vengeance against the king… if that queen was indeed a leader, all clans may be replaced.
Like the wolfes who had lost a prince to the rot, and the replacement, an able fighter but so inexperienced… a stronger warrior might step up to prevent that from becoming a desaster.
The Rats of course, were thriving and despairing, as usual of the two-faced pests, merchants and thieves, spies and diplomats… the butcher baroness personally depicting the two sides, by day fanning herself in opulence, by night bringing the cleaver to the neck of her victims.
then there were the bears, her hate for them was as old as she herself, they were to the wyld what the dragon clan was to the rot, the magics of nature and the druids, having long kept the reptilians from true dominion,
only the deer were worse, but so much more elusive as well, a pointless exercise to search for them, nature itself hid them too well.
Finally the Rabbits, often viewed as the most agreeable, innovation and machines were inherently useful to have for anyone, even if she had to fight the urge to scoff at their arrogance, believing that their burrows, forts and mechanisms rendered them invincible
With all the revenant had heard she knew the truth,
the king had paid their old patron the worm with his heart… and now the replacement was picking apart his mind and soul, he was not reptilian so it may kill him slowly as well.
and so she told the elders, it was time to return, the Race for succeeding the King was on, they would either put a child of their clan on the throne, or have to admit defeat to someone stronger, unlikely as it seemed.
side note: magic is a thing here, Gunpowder weapons exist but are outlawed, the rabbits invented it, and got their representatives tossed out of the king’s court for it.
(to offer an example for character creation:)
Name: Tau
Age: 55
sex: Male
Clan: King
Main way of fighting: Melee, unparralleled in it as of yet. Magic infused proclamations.
Notes: “the outcast turned King”, a foreigner that entered Armello to find it opressed under the reptilians, worked tirelessly to assemble a resistance against them, and paid “any price” to see the dragon clan defeatable.
suffers the “black heart”, wyldnis power pains him, and the rot begins taking him over.
Name: Shyanne “Giggles”
Age: 22
sex: Female
Species: Hyena
Appearance: [warning, they are NSFW] Ref 1ref 2 will wear a desert cloth style set of clothes. Does not wear things over her paws.
Clan: Rats
Main way of fighting: Claws like razors. Sub style is using a katana styled sword.
Notes: effectively insane but acts fairly normal, if not mean. Works for the highest bidder.
name: Ulf “The Kingmaker” Johansson
age: 28
sex: male
clan: wolves
main way of fighting: longsword combat & armored grappling/pugilism
notes: unconditional partisan of the late prince & his successor. Violently scathing & satirical at times, but usually reserved.
@Jinx
(gladly and for Rat clan that’s not very hard either.)
Shyanne, as a hyena was not someone you’d expect to work for the rats, unless you knew what the clan was like, then you’d be more surprised if she wasn’t, she in particular had been called to this unassuming tavern to meet a contact from the shadowmother, a colleague of hers, named Zosha. the best nightblade the clan has had in centuries, they said.
another breath another clash of blades, another push… another time the wolf prince met the ground. for all the effort put into training the pup up, and for all the skill he clearly had, there was just no substitute for experience, Thane was his name and he was meant to lead the clan and make the clan lead armello, but at the moment, even with a defiant gleam in his eyes it was clear, he wasn’t ready.
@Jinx nothing in sight but the classic greeting of a note magically appearing on her after someone “accidentally” bumped into her. Even when confident they were undisturbed the rat clan generally stuck to their safeties.
@Jinx a Rat cypher telling her a room number, and the location of the spare key.
looking around once more she spotted a figure that hadn’t taken his eyes off of her, obviously a royal guard investigator, they stuck out even when dressed normally.
@Cerebrate Just before meeting his demise beneath a killing blow, a clawed gauntlet briskly catches the would-be-regicide’s wielding-hand from behind, thenbends their seized arm aside till snapping, forcing Thane’s opponent to yield.
@Cerebrate once in the room he found that she had “not noticed” him. Taking her shirt off, though on her front this simply exposed a hidden throwing blade
@Cerebrate like lightning her blade left its sheath, burying itself into his neck and passing out of the back of his neck, causing his spine to be severed
@Jinx
“you probably heard about the king going… let’s say, irrational, these days? the nightmother is sure his time is ending, but the problem is, he has no heir and the greatest chances are with the tiger currently acting as minister, thing is, that one hates the rat clan and cracks down hard on shady business, our business… whatever else happens, someone other than the kitty needs to rule.”