The Water realm

[nijibug]

The land of Ailan's birth and childhood was in the north. It was a land of water, chill and beautiful, flanked by old forest and imperious mountains, whose necklaces of deep blue lakes were like opals, and laced with long winding rivers that shone like silver streamers in the sun.

The Water realm used to be just that — a settlement on the sea. But just as the first city Adalance grew to become a sprawling metropolis, the Water realm stretched along the coast and reached inland. The empire now extends into the continent as far as the River Coureaux (Kuro), which flows north to south from the mountains of Niradn to the delta of Hamadry. The river's west is known as the frontier to citizens of the Water realm.

The Elfish

Because of its size, Water realm society is anything but homogeneous. As such, it is very stratified. The group that holds the wealth and power is redoubtably the Elfish. Historically the original people of the Water realm, the Elfish were merchants. With the empire's expansion, the Elfish became the aristocrats, the owners of merchants and industries.

Physiologically, the Elfish are amphibious, equipped with gills as well as lungs. Sir Ailan is Elfish, as well as, of course, the King of the Water realm.

The Royal Family

The King lives in the Palais in the oldest part of Adalance. King Rhad is the current monarch of the reigning dynasty. He is quite old and not very capable and does not have any sons. An insurrection spurred by the disposed dynasty threatened to topple King Rhad's throne, but the reigning dynasty managed to emerge victorious in the civil war.

King Rhad has one child, a daughter. Princess Aricesa is a capable politician, and by the looks of it, she will succeed her father as Queen. At the present, Princess Aricesa already takes on most of the King's responsibilities. As her father isn't the most open-minded, she often resorts to using Sir Ailan, the Knight Champion of the Water realm and the King's confidant, as a conduit. Consequently, King Rhad, who already holds Ailan in high regard, falsely assumes that Ailan is the perfect candidate for heir to the throne.

The Fate of the Vorce Family

Vorce is an old noble bloodline if not a very influential one (they're established too far away from Adalance). The Vorces have been staunch supporters of the royal family since King Rhad's grandfather took power. The Vorce demesne is in the southwestern part of the Water realm, overlooking many port towns on the River Coureaux.

Ailan had four siblings — Vidderandt and Unagh were the eldest brother and sister, twins; while Ailan was not close to Unagh, he greatly admired Viddy. Elise is Ailan's elder sister by only bit, and the two are very good friends. Silene is Ailan's much younger sister, the baby of the family, so to speak. Unagh was married off to a wealthy noble in the north. Viddy died in the civil war. Elise ran off to a nunnery because she did not want to marry.

Viddy's death was perhaps the first great blow to the Vorce family. Viddy's involvement in the war was complicated to begin with. He was married to a lady of the disposed Dulakuin dynasty. They even had a child. When the war broke out, Viddy was a knight and a captain in the King's army. At her family's bidding, Viddy's wife took their child and left him. Viddy died in battle. Ailan's father, the late Lord Vorce, died in battle as well. The Dulakuins sent an assassin to take out the remaining Vorce heir, Ailan, who was living in the capital at the time. The assassin failed but murdered Ailan's wife instead.

(The Dulakuin-sent assassin turned out to be none other than the Knight Champion of the realm, a traitor. King Rhad could have been killed at any time, but the Dulakuins wanted to return to power under the guise of a citizens' insurrection. Ailan managed to defeat the traitor who murdered his wife, but when he learned the assassin's identity, Ailan was unable to kill him. He escaped the Water realm and has not been heard from since.)

Having defeated the former Knight Champion and unveiled a conspiracy, Ailan was dubbed the new Knight Champion. The King took him on as a confidant. In the aftermath of the civil war, Ailan did a lot of work with rebuilding. Ailan left years later, bereft, jaded, and sick of politics. King Rhad then sought the sympathetic but shrewd ear of the Mother Superior of the local order of nuns — incidentally, Ailan's sister Elise.

Ailan's younger sister Silene still lives at home, looking after the estate and her widowed mother.


See also:
Sir Ailan