Great work Boomie, and a nice presentation too.
Here is my story, don't be shy to comment
Symmachus the Retired and the End of the World
Prologue: Turning my back
“Enough of this pointless madness” I had said at the height of my career as general of the 17th legion. I was a good friend of the Emperor and he knew well that he had to let me go now. With my help, the Ellis Empire had reached its zenith and now all of it didn't make sense to me anymore. I had blindly believed that the order of the world was determined by some pantheon of Gods with each their own weaknesses. I used to think that the strong had the unquestionable right to oppress and exploit the weak. So how different are the Gods then from the men if they fall for the same temptations? No more. But it is not simply a matter of faith that drove me out of this worldly life of fame and riches. I am not the youngest anymore, having served for 25 years in the army since my early manhood. As years pass, something inside me tells me that there is more to life than whatever can be achieved by war or treachery at court. That is the reason I wanted to retire. People shunned me for retiring before the final blow was dealt to our remaining enemies. They figured that I must be succumbing to the fear of death now that I was getting older. They really know nothing. That's why I left the people at court to their illusions and set out to get to know this world and maybe search for its truths. Glory had been mine until then, but I wouldn't accept glory anymore if a big, fat lie was in glory's package.
Chapter I: Me, myself and I
Whatever they might tell you about the hardships of traveling and the dangers that you encounter, don't believe them. It's fourty times worse. Bandits, brigands, thieves, poachers, murderers, charlatans and downright crazy men. They'll all be your ever-faithful companions. Never travel alone, unless you want to die or you are as crazy as me. I had a few tricks of my own up my sleeve. I had a way with words, money, horses, brains and sharpened steel among other things. Initially I did not fair well but after a some bad experiences with suspiciously attractive women, seemingly poor old men and the occasional not-so-helpless-after-all orphan, I finally got used to avoiding trouble. Calradia before the rise of Ellis, the land of never ending blood, seemed like a land of fairy tales in comparison to what I've seen. Anyway, you get the picture.
I had lost my beloved wife Elenore to an incurable disease that had also soon taken away her fertility, but I never stopped loving her even if she was unable to grant me the joy of fatherhood. I had spent my years looking after her, nursing her day and night. But in the end she had left this plane to meet the Creator, whoever he may be. I bear no grudges anymore against the driving force which sets all fates in motion, for I had long figured out that a man who bears grudges and rebels against the twists of fate, is indeed a lost man, a nobody. I just wish I had somebody to share my everything with. That person wouldn't be able to endure me and the demons that haunt me in my dreams, though. So now you know that I had nobody with me on my journey. Nobody to take care of and nobody who would take care of me.
Chapter II: New Dawns and Dusks
I kept on going and going. As I passed through places of beauty and splendor but also places horror and destruction, it were the people living in them who made me think in awe. “What kind of world was I born into?” is one of the questions I asked myself all the time. Diversity is a word that is not enough to describe the differences between the soldiers, peasants, wise men, kings, nobles and merchants of the lands I wandered through. Or the lack of them. I've been to places so remote and desolate, that I'd yearn for death. I've also been to places so remote and desolate that I'd wish my beloved Elenore would be there with me and we would never have to leave.
What amazes me more though is the question of what keeps these people busy doing what they do.
There is a broad variety of myths and legends about the order of the world and heavens circling the temples, churches and even taverns in the cities. It was fine to hear them all but believing them all would require thousands of worlds and heavens for them all to be the truth. The people had one thing in common though, wherever I passed. It was an uncontrollable desire for money, power and, strangely, happiness. Yes, this is very strange indeed because the first two don't go well coupled with the latter. Something only a few memorable personalities knew on my journeys.
Even someone like a simple farmer cannot stop himself from reaching out into where he cannot be. There was one who I met named Ufat trying to earn a living in the Mylesian valleys. He was able to feed his family decently with the newly introduced Laurian potatoes. But the man had higher dreams and sold his patch of land. Then he took a loan from a merchant in town to invest his money into trade goods and become a merchant himself. He knew nothing of the trade and its dangers. The man got himself scammed and robbed into rock-bottom upon which the merchant, to whom a local lord called Birghor owed much, took Ufat's family as slaves to work in the mines. A month later Birghor had the merchant hanged on his whim and took his shares at the mines. A sad story indeed but a very eye-opening one.
That is not to say that my travels did not show me the goodness in mankind's heart. Many a time have I been saved from my doom by the most unexpected of saviors. I will never forget the unique virtues of each people. Xi diligence, Bermianese nobleness, Haelmarian kindness, Gunduz honesty, Ptian modesty. The list goes on. I'm not planning to tell you here about all the spiritual profits of traveling. To make a long story short, they make all the evils that you will face worth it. If you manage stand and take those evils, that is..
Chapter III: The next Big Thing
“I'm getting quite addicted to it” I had told every tavern keeper who heard my story and asked how it was to be and adventurer. As traveling made me feel young again I felt ready for something big. It was somewhat like the first great battle I fought as an Ellisian legionary. I was planning to go west, all the way back to the Highlands, and beyond. Yes, I was on the brink of doing the unthinkable. Going across the ocean even further than the craziest fisherman or pirate. I was about to venture to the Great Bloodfalls. “Not a bloody soul has returned to tell the tale, it's the End of the World!!” McFrancis, the innkeeper of the fisherman's town told me angrily. He cared more about my skin than I did. “Well then how can you know it's the end of the world? I said mockingly. “You youngsters sure know how to spoil you life.” he said. I told him that I 'd heard those words many times in my journeys. In reality, I knew this was something different and that I would probably never return. But I figured that I didn't have that many years left to live anyway. Perhaps.. I would go to the same place as Elenore. That was highly unlikely though. My years as a general would make sure of that.
“Find me the biggest boat a single man can operate” I told McFrancis. The old man nodded hesitantly after seeing how determined I was. Starving to death was not one of my intentions so I'd filled the boat with months worth of food, drinks and fishing gear. Pirates, sharks and giant sea monsters(if the stories were true) didn't appeal to me either. So in went harpoons, lances, bows, cutlasses and anything I could come up with. Certainly, this last great adventure of mine would by its self be thrilling enough to warrant taking the risk of either falling into eternal oblivion or seeing my wife again in good health. You are probably thinking that after all these years I still haven't been able to recuperate from the sorrow caused by her death. Maybe you are right, but that doesn't change the fact that I see myself as an evil man. I cannot stop myself from hoping, though. A man with such a sinful past doesn't even deserve a normal life many would say, but I always kept believing firmly that we men are ignorant and poor judges of character and that something higher would be the dispenser of final justice..
Chapter IV: The many shades of Blue
“How was the ocean?” you might ask. Like a living being, it had many different faces.
You see, in more than two months of sailing the waves I'd sensed the ocean get angry at me, then aid me, love me, only to abandon me later and then to get jealous again at my calm temperament. Our relation had indeed been the stuff of drama theaters. Maybe a West-Swadian Opera would do too.
Shall I tell you a secret? I would have gone totally mad back in those days if my already half-crazy mind had not invented a feisty mermaid as embodiment of the sea. For no man can stand being alone in the middle of nothing for months. Not even general Symmachus. For the first time in a long time, it made me think of home again, the green Ellisian countryside.
So somewhat fortunately, I got some company. Not of the sort that I'd have liked. Back at the inn, superstitious sailors were talking about a giant sea creature that had a nasty appetite for ships and their crew. This abomination was called Tegwyroth. They used to rub their ships in with camel dung because they thought the beast hated its smell. Who knows where they got the camel dung from in a place like the Highlands but I wasn't willing to spend the days that would be possibly my last, drifting on a stinking piece of wood. So I've had several encounters with Tegwyroth and I would spend many nights without closing an eye in fear of this beast. The first time it came it nearly turned over my boat with a single tentacle. I was lucky enough to fall into the water near the ugly blob that formed its head and so I pierced its eye with my dagger.
The second time it broke my mast and went away when it fell upon his head. That wasn't too ideal because now I really had to kill it. By then I'd realized that it was very similar to the Kraken I had heard about in ancient Haelmarian mythology. Their story included a way to lure it and I thought it was worth a shot. It seems a Kraken or Tegwyroth or whatever you want to call the demon, could not resist the smell of fresh fish being fried on a roasting spit. I did exactly that and prepared my harpoon and a bow as backup. Oh, how delighted was I at the sight of purple blood on the deep blue water surface a few hours later! I had won my greatest battle yet. The feisty mermaid came complaining again though.
But, I saw some winged hussar's screenshots. Can i know, when they will be relased? I wanna smash those Ormeli idiots, for crashing my beautiful, the best in the world Imperial army...
