LogFAQs > #912376813

They did that the only way they knew how. Through violence.

The west continued to be in a state of turmoil as a result.

The remaining forces of the Blight King's army, situated on his lands, in his keep, and in the areas most directly under his control, were reborn as the faction known as the Emeralds. The Blight King had never fathered any children, a source of many rumors, and a direct cause for the absence of succession which was seen during those last four years.

No one was entirely clear who was in charge, but most of the men and monsters under his command had grown a taste for power. They loved the feel of control, they loved the fine things and the treasures they had retrieved as trophies of war, and they knew little of how to live a normal life that didn't consistent of subjugating and exploiting others -- whether it be those from the Allied nations of repeated raids on Pelengreer.

From the warlocks to the horrors that had been born out of the primordial rot, the strongest of those rose to join the Emeralds. The wisest moved into positions of leadership. And through manipulation, subterfuge, and social strategy, the Emeralds tried to take the role as new leaders in this new world absent of the Blight King.

Pelengreer itself was trying to rebuild their infrastructure, but these efforts were blocked by ambivalent social direction. During this time where the war had only recently ended, where the wars could start again at any time, there were some truly important questions to ask. Refilling ditches, pulling back the spiked barricade, and knocking down guard towers would give more room for planting new crops... but could you really do that when the Emeralds clearly still had an eye for expansion?

People looked to the heroes of the war for guidance on these matters, but those were exactly the people who had grown up knowing nothing but battle. Most of them didn't feel qualified to lead a peaceful society, and many of them began to feel useless in this new world. Some of them secretly yearned that the days of battle might return, and a few even had the shame to feel guilty about wishing for that. Others fled the country to places like Hendrake to start a new life... only to learn that everywhere, all over the world, humans were miserable creatures.

Then, among this all, the worst possible thing happened. Members of Emeralds set up a plot by which Alliance forces and the members of the Pelengreer elite forces would both mistakenly believe themselves to be engaging the Emeralds forces. In the chaos of battle they enacted an assassination plot against Corella Landts.

The young woman who represented the end of the Blight King, who had ushered in an age of peace, was attacked by an unknown assassin. Those deeply involved in intelligence gathering highly suspected a green man named Terris, a high ranking Emeralds officer, but there was no concrete proof. Worse, because of the battle which had unfolded as a result of the Emeralds' trap, it became difficult to view the situation as anything other than provocation between the Alliance and Pelengreer.

There were many who knew this was all a misunderstanding, but it was hard to sway public opinion. No one knew if Corella was still alive or not, her body had been removed from the battlefield in secret, and everything had been kept well under wraps. Meanwhile, the common folk seemed to think that the Alliance forces had attacked Pelengreer unprovoked and murdered one of their greatest heroes.

There were calls for war.

And some, some in Pelengreer... had been waiting for another war to start.

Even for those politicians with good intentions, who wanted to avoid the war, public opinion was against them. Furthermore, people in Pelengreer didn't have much experience governing a nation that wasn't involved in war. They didn't exactly know how to get the people on their side, to explain things, or how to stop the situation from escalating.
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~* and now I only see your dull imposter ~*
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