Skála was, despite being a prison for the worst criminals of the Dominion, a peaceful place when it was not being battered by the endless Northwestern storms forming in the Sea of Tears.
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The Estrin Dependency was a good place to learn and was positively saturated in History. Its walls were built by 37th Duxeière of the Colestis Imperii Cuthbert in 2700 YBP (2,929 years ago) and were later renovated by 24th Khagan Ninyo Estrin VI – the man who conquered the East.
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Archcountess-Khatun Jauna Orlova sat in a hard wooden chair pouring over the dusty books in the Warden`s library. She had an intense, primordial sense that she was not alone.
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A voice, strong and resonant, abruptly broke the tense silence, "What are you reading young lady?" It said.
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Juana flinched, startled by the sudden sound. "W-who are you? Where are you!?" She stammered.
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"I am behind the history section – very fitting for a relic such as myself." The mysterious woman croaked.
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The Archcountess-Khatun of UEGNA crossed the room, her jaw-dropping in awe when she laid eyes upon the speaker.
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She was a very old woman but had a sort of vitality within her that made her seem young. Her brown eyes shone brightly even in a room lit by Æther lamps.
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Is this, thought Juana, Matriarch Vivienne Yunta?
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She certainly looked the part, dressed in a regal crimson robe lined with black fur. She wore a necklace set with a thin lozenge-shaped Sardonyx, a variant of Onyx where the coloured bands are sard – shades of red – rather than black.
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Definitely not the Matriarch, then; red fusils or lozenge were frequent in Estrinite symbolism. Every five Khagans, a new one was added to the black flag of the Dominion. There had been ten of them by the time Khagan Jochi began ruling – the fifty-first and final Khagan as the position was merged with that of Erzherzog[in] of Umbracrest and Earl/Countess of Narciss to create Urlic`s role as Archcount-Khagan of UEGNA.
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"Who are you?" She asked again, firmer this time.
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"Who am I?" She echoed softly, "I was born in the dark and married to the dark. I was there when the light shone bright, I was there when he who could not walk took his steps, I was there when your Alliance was founded, and I am here now. Who am I?" She replied cryptically.
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"Enough riddles, you have been forgotten regardless of what you have seen!" Urlic`s Consort snapped.
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"Very well," The stranger relented, "I will tell you a story, please don't interrupt me."
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"Go on" Juana urged, curious about what she had to share.
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"A woman was born in the thirty-seventh year of the Æbyss on the Isle of Tyrin, where her father was the Malek¹"
¹ Governor of a Major Island
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Juana Orlova held her usually sharp tongue.
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"In the fifty-second year, at just fifteen, she was engaged to the 49th Khagan Xantè Estrin as his secondary wife and bore him a son, 2nd Khan Jiro, that same year."
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There was a chilling silence as she paused before continuing. "The Gur Khan died under suspicious circumstances three years later and the second son became Gur Khan while the other wife was executed. This woman became the Khatun of the Dominion and then Khatun Dowager in the sixty-eighth year when her son killed his father in retribution for abusing him."
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Tears glistened like gemstones in the eyes of a woman who had seen it all. She took a deep breath before continuing the tragic story, "In the sixtieth year of hope, her grandson became the 51st and final Khagan of the Dominion. Finally, in the seventy-seventh year of hope, her great-grandson became Archcount-Khagan of UEGNA."
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The tears were in full flow now, streaming down her cheeks like the mighty River Dekè – the largest river by discharge and width in Empyrea, located near the Eastern regional capital of Demos.
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"That woman..." She tried to speak but was silenced by sobs.
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"What happened to her?"
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"She is the Great Grand Khatun Dowager of the once great Estrin Dominion, Xarai Ujin Estrin, and s-she is sitting in front of you now." Xarai whimpered.
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The book that Juana held in her hands fell to the ground with a heavy thud. She was stunned into silence.
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"Do you think I'm stupid? You expect me to believe that my husband`s great-grandmother is alive at the age of one hundred and fifteen and living in the Dependency of Skála?" She scoffed.
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The large wooden doors swung open as the Warden entered the library, flanked by two brawny janissaries (gaurds) for protection. Chinggis-Dorj was a paranoid man even with the looming threat of the Ghost Fleet choosing to level the ancient fortress if the role of Warden went vacant for too long. The prisoners could not harm the Governor of the island if they wanted to.
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"Your Grace, what is all this noise about?" He enquired politely as he bowed in respect.
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"Who is this?" She retorted, jabbing a finger at the old woman.
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"Ah...I wondered when you might encounter our resident royal. The last five Wardens each passed a decree from Khagan Jiro to their successor which confirms her identity. Meet Great Grand Khatun Dowager Xarai Estrin, the true oldest living person in Empyrea." He explained.
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"And why is she here?" She asked crossly. She had been told that she would be more or less alone within the Dependency of Skála and was furious that the Estrinite officials had either forgotten or intentionally lied
Directly to the Archcountess-Khatun.
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"The Adepti...are keen t-to study why I am ageing so slowly."
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The Warden chuckled at the memories "The Academy sent me a very shocked memorandum once. It heavily implied the unnatural agelessness of Khagan Xantè may have also affected his wife to a lesser extent. An enzyme called Telomerase was identified as a likely explanation." He said, before adding meekly, "She refuses to die until the war is over, she wants to be present for the Treaty signing regardless of which side is victorious."
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Chinggis-Dorj bowed deeply and strode out of the room.
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"Come here, child." The Great Grand Khatun Dowager said gently.
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Juana Orlova reluctantly obeyed; she had no choice, after all.
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"We must understand the history of the Dominion, for it is long and filled with mistakes that your husband must not repeat."
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"I understand..."
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"Good. We will begin with the twenty-fourth Khagan, Ninyo Estrin VI. He ruled from five hundred and sixty-one to five hundred and forty-four Years Before Point..."
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The Archcountess-Khatun groaned to herself. It was going to be a long war for her, Crown Prince Rionault, and Princess Gloria.
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Xarai Estrin (Née Börte), Great Grand Khatun Dowager of the Estrin Dominion, simply would not die until it was done.
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____________________________________
Three years had passed and it was the eighty-seventh year of hope. Reinhart Narravo is dead, murdered by the foreign lover he betrayed. His lasting legacy had sent shockwaves across Empyrea as his masterful defeat of the Aquilorians at the Third Battle of Euphau in 85 EH had forced the Meritocratic region to sign an Aquilo-Narcissian Winter Truce.
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Things in the North had also taken an unexpected turn; Matriarch Vivienne Yunta and Chieftain Ragnor Marzi were both deceased, the latter killed by his untrustworthy Northwestern allies and the latter sadly caught in the crossfire. Tümen-Chuluun, the Emir of Ilyn and Ariun-Tulga, the Governor of Ostrov had been sent to Narcester to face the combined wrath of Archcount-Khagan Urlic and his Archcomital Viceroy for the Dominion, Unka Noyanu-Astrin.
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The Aquilorians had bore the full force of the UEGNA attacks the moment spring had come in 86 EH with the battles at Sisi, Sai, Vassau, and On-the-Sea forcing them out of Southern Pheasantine completely. Outpost Calirographia had been burned to the ground by Lieutenant General Petrov and his 4th Northeastern Field Army.
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All this seemed good for the Archregion, yet it wasn't at all. All eyes were not focused on the battlefield (which was rapidly losing significance as both sides shifted their tactics to wage a war of attrition after concluding that forcing a Battle of Annihilation was virtually impossible after the stalemate above Demos between the Grand Fleet and Combined Flotilla.) but on the Academies of the Adept and the BCU.
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The former was *supposed* to be politically neutral, but was drip-feeding the Union new ideas, strategies, and technologies to give their forces an edge. The latter had terrified the Union leaders when it had deployed its Stoneman agent during the Seige of Biogi against the Dragoons. Cerulea, Vorantis, and Aquiloria feared that the BCU would initiate full-scale biological warfare, which would spell doom for the Union – and even historians were in uproar about this. The Umbracresti Civil War (25 YBP – 20 YBP) had seen widespread use of biological superweapons by both the Loyalists, who supported 5th Erzherzog Urlic Ego-Westerling II, and the Insurgents, who supported Ursa as 6th Erzherzogin Regnant, resulting in the collapse of the West in addition to fifty-two years of anarchy (20 YBP – 32 YAP).
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Mikal van Blücher, the so-called 'Marshal of Steel', had a plan to deal with the rouge Chancellor Nazarene.
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They all sat in his office, which was surprisingly humble and modest for such an important man. Two framed pictures had been delicately placed on the wall. The first picture`s occupants were the Marshal himself, a sly – and curiously fox-like – older woman who must have been his wife Anastasia "Ani" Carly van Blücher, a moustached youth wearing a Róta Valkyrie uniform (who had a lithe, slender brunette laying her head upon the epaulette on his shoulder), an elegant teenaged girl proudly displaying a Diploma from the Academy of Aurea Urbis (An academy of the Adept in Chalcrystis that had produced many of the Adept Artistic) declaring her an Apprentice of Theatre. The last occupant was an infant, joyfully embracing what must have been her older sister and smiling a toothless smile.
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The second photo was much more recent; Blücher now looked much older – by 87 EH he had celebrated his seventy-ninth birthday and was still in excellent health –, but neither the moustached man nor his affectionate woman was present. The teenager had grown up and was now in her early twenties, clutching a Certificate that conferred her as a Master Adept – quite an impressive feat at that age. The infant had developed into a joyful child with a radiant smile that lit up the photograph like a spotlight.
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Was the old Marshal a family man at heart? Vizegräfin Xeina Hessen-Hessen-Archaea certainly wanted to know.
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The woman was about fifty years his junior and was Anaux`s niece.
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"Marshal Blücher," She began, shifting her attention from the nervously sweating Vice Chancellor Grogen and Vizier for Logistics – a half-Vorantine man called Logico Lothete –, to ask, "You have never mentioned anything to me about possessing such a large family. Who is in these photos?" She asked in her clipped Umbracresti Accent. There are several variations on the Western accent, which usually depends on upbringing and home city / Province. Simply put, anyone from Upper Umbracrest (Brimstun, Cellula,
Cytos, Nucleus, Sovia, and Zweit) or Lower Umbracrest (Biogi, Bronch, Fehler, Golgi, Hessen, Mestae, Meso, Mitchon, Rissau, and Squide) will sound far more harsh/aggressive when compared to anyone from the central places (Cyndear,
Dexorine, Météore, Noctè, Ribose, Styd and Wafful)
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Blücher immediately went rigid. He had already lost his son and daughter-in-law and he be dammed if he was going to let Anuax`s cousin touch any of those who remained.
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It was Vizier Lothete that saved her. "We aren't here to discuss this, Miss Xeina." He put bluntly, causing the Hessen-Archaea woman to pout.
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"What ARE we here to discuss? It's highly unusual for a military official of any region to call upon leadership for the Academies of the Adept, a minor western no–"
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"Minor?" Squaked the mentioned Vizegräfin of Eukaro (a title she held suo jure / in her own right) indignantly, her pride wounded.
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"–ble and a Vizier of the Conclave at all, let alone all at the same time." He finished after ignoring Xeina Hessen-Archaea`s protestations.
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"Chancellor Nazarene." Came the simple, sinister reply.
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"What about her?" Logico asked.
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"The Adeptus Ethical was already a threat to UEGNA before she was elected Chancellor of the Adept. Nazarene has broken the oath of neutrality and must be replaced by someone more...dependable." Blücher answered, pulling out a map of Empyrea to illustrate the plan.
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He pointed at a small dot within Vorantis (which was lightly shaded orange) marked AUSTERIUM.
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"I assume she can be found in the Vorantine capital, Vice-Chancellor?"
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"For any other Chancellor that would correct, but not Nazarene. The Adeptus Ethical took a wow of Poverty and refused to use the official office of the Chancellor of the Adept so she was granted a modest dwelling within Academi, Aquiloria." Replied Grogen, pointing to another dot marked ACADAMI.
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Urlic`s Vizer for Logistics thought deeply for a moment. "I seem to recall," He began slowly, "That there are several ways by which the incumbent Chancellor could be removed. The Adjutant-General is subordinate to me, perhaps I could task him with reviewing the Chancellorian Code?" He pondered aloud.
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Blücher was not impressed in the slightest. "Review it for what exactly, Lothete? The 47th Gathering won't take place until the ninety-sixth year of hope so a vote of no confidence isn't possible. Nazarene obeys the Oath of the Adept to the letter so we can't go down that route either. She is too dangerous to remove but leave alive; Nazarene must die."
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The Vizier for Logistics stroked that ratty little beard of his before adding,
"Subtlety is key; we must create a scenario where her removal appears justified."
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The Vizegräfin sipped the cup of tea – highly popular in Empyrea and mostly exported by Umbracrest – she held in her small hands before voicing her own opinion, "We should gather evidence—plant documents, even. Something that implicates her directly or reduces the likelihood of the Union prying into the circumstances of her death. We can't let the blame fall upon the Vice Chancellor, whatever we do."
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Grogen piped up with, "Of course not. I'll make the necessary arrangements for Operation Chancellor immediately."
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Vice Chancellor Grogen, the Adeptus Ecclesiastical, shuddered inwardly at the thought that, someday, others might meet to plot his demise.
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After all the things that people like Marshal Blücher had forced him to do, he wouldn't deny that he deserved it.
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