Post by Whisper on Mar 29, 2011 21:31:12 GMT -5
In the beginning, there was a kingdom known as Guilder. This kingdom often took the blame for bad things that happened in other kingdoms, most notably Florin (but that's someone else's movie). The time with which we are concerned was still early in the Reign of Engelbert IV, called The Otherwise Occupied or sometimes The Distracted.
Engelbert was a gentle and just monarch who had very little use for politics and statesmanship, preferring to devote most of his time to researching strange and esoteric aspects of natural philosophy. Somehow, he also managed to become an excellent swordsman, archer, and paragon of fashion and courtesy. Alas, he always left the governance of his kingdom to others. In the early years of Engelbert's reign, the Duke of Pennyfarthing and numerous other corrupt and self-serving members of the nobility were the caretakers of the realm, seeming to have more interest in the taking than the caring.
The reign of Engelbert might have continued on in this sorry state, just as many before and since, had not an ensemble of unusual characters and strange events not converged upon the capital city, late one winter. Within a year, a soldier, a strangely independent golem, a preacher, two con artists working at cross purposes, and various others had turned the social and political order upside-down and crushed the old nobility.
The king, naturally, appointed these extraordinary souls to his cabinet and granted each of them ministries appropriate to their talents. Then he returned to the lab.
Engelbert was a gentle and just monarch who had very little use for politics and statesmanship, preferring to devote most of his time to researching strange and esoteric aspects of natural philosophy. Somehow, he also managed to become an excellent swordsman, archer, and paragon of fashion and courtesy. Alas, he always left the governance of his kingdom to others. In the early years of Engelbert's reign, the Duke of Pennyfarthing and numerous other corrupt and self-serving members of the nobility were the caretakers of the realm, seeming to have more interest in the taking than the caring.
The reign of Engelbert might have continued on in this sorry state, just as many before and since, had not an ensemble of unusual characters and strange events not converged upon the capital city, late one winter. Within a year, a soldier, a strangely independent golem, a preacher, two con artists working at cross purposes, and various others had turned the social and political order upside-down and crushed the old nobility.
The king, naturally, appointed these extraordinary souls to his cabinet and granted each of them ministries appropriate to their talents. Then he returned to the lab.
