An Axe in the Flames

Brothers of the Shadow

The Brothers of the Shadow were well known across all of the kingdoms and lands of Vale. Long before King Herrod and his campaign to unite the continent of Bree, they had existed and excelled at what they did. The first written records of a shadow brother were no less than four hundred years ago, when the original founder was hired to assassinate a liege of King Ranault, the Dutchie of Pines. Eventually, Ranault was assassinated himself. That's how things worked, you'd start a war. Gain a new enemy, become afraid said enemy would defeat you. Then, you'd hire a Brother of the Shadow to do the dirty work. Always, with no remorse, to the highest bidder. The Brothers didn't concern themselves with the politics of each King. They concerned themselves with money and materials.

The founder of the Brothers, Nail Von Carlin, had even made contracts for his underlings to sign. They would never pick a side in a war that wasn't going to be the victor. They had no ties to any kingdom, nor any King. They were an entity of themselves and could not be governed or controlled, only hired and always to the one with the fattest purse. This had given them a pretty shady reputation, needless to say. There were even instances where they were hired by one man, then given more money by the target to kill the original. As the years passed, and the wars continued, the Brothers grew rich and powerful. Untouchable to any kingdom or ruler. Each time old age, unfortunate events or acts of the Almighty took the life of the leader. A new one would be appointed, and he would adopt the name of Nail.

Like all things in life, as each leader took over, things slowly changed. Morality gave way to idealism, which gave way to seeing wars as good versus bad. Though, this was not always the case. Men don't go to war because one is evil and the other is righteous. That's only in the bard songs and fairy tales. Men go to war because they believe their political views and system are better than the others. Simply put, that was just how things worked. So, when Nail took over the Brothers three years ago, he had sided with King Herrod and his political system. Taxes were harder on some provinces, more slack on others. It was just the way things were. If you pissed the King off, well then, you'd better expect to have taxes raised. Herrod had instituted paying soldiers, instead of forcing farmers to hold shield and sword. He had given them special housing within the Emerald Castle walls. Given classes to better implement an economy and had spread his wings wide.

In spreading his wings though, he had stretched beyond his means and had to rely on the Brothers. They were his right hand of discipline. You stepped out of line, you'd expect to have a visit from one of the Shadows. This had worked to serve his kingdom, and serve the Brothers. As things like kingdoms go, the Emerald Kingdom was easily one of the most successful to rise to power in Bree. Their army had been one of the most powerful and well organized that had existed. They had some of the most skilled fighters and well known magic users as well. No province rebellion had ever stood a chance before. As they were all easily squashed and set back in order. The problem was, that all was old hat now. Life has a way of making changes without your consent, and those changes were coming on fast.

First, King Herrod had sent his nephew and many of the former continent's soldiers to the Feral Wilds in exile for war crimes committed during his taking of power. You don't leave a rabid dog in your backyard and hope it learns it's lesson, because sooner rather than later, that dog will come back to bite you. Nail had tried to tell the King that, but Herrod was a stubborn and proud man. He had done what no other had before done. United the lands of Bree under one banner. However, in stretching himself thin. That dog was nipping at his heels, ready to rip out his achilles. Lucan had always been a jealous boy, and jealous boys grow up to be scornful men.

Second, he had neglected to keep any sort of watch on the Feral Wilds or the deserts to the west. This had resulted in said rabid dog building an army. Lucan had used his silver tongue and elegant ways to recruit and build a force more than capable of taking the Emerald army on. In fact, with the rumors of new magic users and the Flame Sect finding a way to give themselves magic, they were much more powerful. The Emerald Kingdom and it's army hadn't had a new magic user since the original war to take Bree. The army had become stale, in a sense, that the young warriors that led the army were now old grizzled vets. The only magic left was that of the Servant Guardians.