Introduction



Five Years after the fall of Persopolis...


Henato Stormblade stood in a dark, filthy hunting hut. It was damp, and grimy. The sun had already begun to set beyond the thin walls of the poorly built shack. The pelts of various critters and animals hung from hooks, suspended all around him. Horns and antlers were mounted on the walls which were made of old or rotten oak boards he had looted from old huts and cabins along the coastline of Tanenvale's savage, unsettled north.

Henato was a young male, no older than 27. He stood 6' 1" and weighed roughly 180lbs with an exceptional build, long blonde hair tied at the back of his head with a short beard, and frosty blue eyes. He wore a musty, blood stained brown tunic tailored from the pelt of a young male deer, dirty black hunting slacks, and muddy cloth boots.

His hands worked swiftly with a skill that was fostered from years of experience as he skinned the hide from a deer that lay upon a wooden table. The meat would be harvested for a decent meal, and the scraps would be given to his companions.

As the tone of light peering into the rickety shack shifted and dimmed, Henato's hands froze, his eyes shifting straight ahead at the wall before him.

"I know you're there," he said softly, yet with a firm tone in his stoic voice. After a few moments without a reply, his eyes shifted back to the deer, and he went back to work. "Are you going to say something, or just stand there?" he asked plainly.

"You'll look at me when I speak to you," a hoarse, callus voice replied. The figure was cloaked in shadow, standing in the crooked doorway. A tall, husky man, hooded and draped under layers of robe and cloth. His voice was commanding, and lined with ages of wisdom. He had a regal accent that was both exulting and rugged.

"What do you want, Lazarus?" Henato asked in a tired, impatient tone of voice.

"There is a war coming, Henato. Even as we speak, Lucian Mageknight's armies march toward Antaricos. Tybidia is powerless to help, and Galgothica lies in wait as Morticus Lictus amasses his forces along Tybidia's borders."

"That's unfortunate," Henato said indifferently. "Why are you here?" he then asked with a growing annoyance behind his words.

Lazarus responded with equal annoyance, "Perhaps word hasn't reached you through your isolation. Persopolis has surrendered to Morticus Lictus."

Henato paused, his eyes shifting once again to the blank wall in front of him. They glistened with the threat of tears and he let a heavy breath pass his lips.

"Percidia has fallen," Lazarus finished gravely.

"When?" Henato asked softly.

"Five long years ago." Henato's eyes closed slowly.

"You can tell yourself and the rest of the world that you simply don't care, but your emotions betray you for the truth," Lazarus said with a sense of victory and satisfaction.

Outside of the shack, a crow sat perched in a withered elm, his beady eyes shifting erratically. It fluttered it's wings and let a single cry pierce the foggy evening air.

Henato calmly placed his palms on the edge of the table, letting his head hang low. "Why are you telling me this, Lazarus. What do you want from me?" He asked, swelling with a collision of emotions.

"Not everyone has chosen to hide themselves away, Henato. Kaynen Creed has taken it upon himself to form a campaign against Lictus and the Gadian Empire. With him are Tyffus and Tyson," Lazarus explained with a sense of pride and hope peering from under his grave tone of voice. Henato turned to face Lazarus for the first time, his brow stern with disapproval. "They have grown strong, Henato. Your uncle would be proud," Lazarus said with a rarely seen smile.

"Why come to me?" Henato asked defensively, closing himself off again. "I'm done fighting other people's battles. I didn't come up here to get involved in the world's problems, Lazarus."

Lazarus paused, crossing his hands behind his back and glancing at his feet, before back at Henato. "You may not need the world, but the world needs Henato Stormblade."

"So Persopolis falls, Tybidia is next, and all of a sudden the world needs me?" Henato asked, almost confused.

"They needed you all along," Lazarus replied plainly.

"I am as close to happy as I'll ever be out here. I'm done fighting," Henato explained apologetically.

"What about Tyson, Tyffus?" Lazarus asked him. "Can you live with yourself if something happens to them, knowing you stayed hidden away whilst they died for your freedom?"

"I'm supposed to die with them so I don't feel bad? Come on, Lazarus!"

"I won't beg you, Henato Stormblade!" Lazarus shouted with fury, turning from Henato and the shack. "They'll have passed Rivier De Lou by now, headed for Miramichi where they will seek help from Reuben The Quick. Gods willing, there are some warriors left in this world," he mumbled as he walking away slowly with the aid of his wooden staff.

Henato placed his hands on his hips. "Grimmtower!"

Lazarus stopped, looking over his shoulder with furious eyes. He was an old, wrinkled man with long grey hair braided with thin blue cloth, a long, shaggy grey beard, and bushy grey eyebrows to match.

"How did you find me here?" Henato asked, loud enough that Lazarus could hear him.

Lazarus continued walking up the muddy path toward Henato's candle-lit log cabin. "You cannot hide from a wizard, my boy. There is nowhere my will cannot reach," he shouted in reply.

Henato chuckled under his breath, closing his eyes and shaking his head.





"I grow so tired.. I'm tired of clinging to life by the edge of my blade. Sifting through bodies in the aftermath, hoping to find some lost treasure on the fingers or around the neck of some boy lay slain by the blade or arrow. Another lost soul devoured by the scourge of war. A family ripped to pieces by the chilling unknown of their little boy's fate.

War was hell, you see. People had to die, and no one asks why. No one cares to weigh the balance in blood, rather than gold. But it was all I knew. It was the only connection I had built between myself and the rest of the world. The battlefield was my home, it was that simple. It was the only place I felt human.

Death wasn't the life I wanted, but it's the path I chose to take..."

—Henato Stormblade


Persopolis 2
Reckoning


Six years ago, the Empire of Gadia waged war on the ancient Kingdom of Percidia. Against the capitol city of Persopolis, Emperor Morticus Lictus laid the most vicious siege the continent of Tanenvale had ever seen. For 2 long years Gadian forces smashed Persopolis, reducing the mighty city to rubble. Brave warriors from Odinia answered Percidia's call to arms and aided in her defence. Amongst them, Kaynen Creed, a brave and hallowed knight. Tannenvale's finest warriors from the northern Tiber Tribes also aided the call of war. The young Henato Stormblade and a host of his brethren embarked on a secret campaign to sabotage the Gadian conquest of Percidia.

But their efforts met tragedy and were foiled. The group of warriors and brave heroes parted ways.

One year later, Persopolis, left in horrific ruin, surrendered to Morticus Lictus, effectively making the kingdom of Percidia a province of the Gadian Empire...