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Post by Alex of Santo-Luce on Nov 10, 2009 20:35:46 GMT -5
Wearing a black cloak with a guitar case slung over his back and riding a fluffy yellow strider that seemed a little worse for wear, Alex looked like the epitome of Santo-Lucian bard-dom.
"C'mon, Al, let's go!"
They were near the library, and the strider was getting tired.
"We're almost there."
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Post by alexanderthegreat on Nov 10, 2009 21:25:18 GMT -5
And following alongside him was Alexander, the fake, long, bushy beard he had sought over so much before they left. He travelled a little lighter, carrying a long, flute-like instrument instead (because in all honesty, the king couldn't be bothered to carry something heavier the whole trip through--spoiled a little, yes, he was).
"Right, Al--err...Ed. Sorry, forgot you're Ed," he replied, adjusting the small glasses he had also placed on his face.
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Post by Alex of Santo-Luce on Nov 10, 2009 21:45:43 GMT -5
He chuckled slightly.
"Don't worry about it. Library's this way!"
He kicked his weary Strider into gear.
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Post by alexanderthegreat on Nov 11, 2009 1:36:34 GMT -5
Alexander followed closely along, and as the library came into view his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
"I can't believe how big it is...and it's only on the outside...Ed, I don't think I like the idea of that place being filled with books," he groaned as they got closer.
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Post by Alex of Santo-Luce on Nov 11, 2009 1:38:32 GMT -5
Alex dismounted and led the strider to the stables next to the library and tied it up; helping Alexander do the same, he shook his head. "At least they have a librarian, too."
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Post by alexanderthegreat on Nov 12, 2009 21:36:24 GMT -5
Alexander gratefully accepted the help--knowing him, he'd end up fumbling and falling off of the strider instead.
...stupid thing probably would have stepped on his face a couple of times, too.
"Thankfully, they do," Alexander seemed to give great thanks to the heavens for that as they both headed towards the doors.
"Pardon me~" Alexander called out to the guards ahead, "greetings, gentlemen. We've come from far and wide to...partake in your place of study...for a study of our own! We are travelling bards who have been greatly inspired by the eh..."
He coughed then and turned to Alex, saying, "Err...Ed, I can't remember our BS story I seem to have a bit of a...frog...in the throat--please carry on?"
And from there he went into a pretend coughing fit.
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Post by Alex of Santo-Luce on Dec 5, 2009 1:38:17 GMT -5
Alex had to fight to keep from rolling his eyes.
"We were inspired by the war to write a ballad about the history of Nerezza and Santo-Luce... and where better to go for history than the famed Library of Crepusculum."
He smiled. The librarian sighed.
"Bards..." she muttered. "What is it you're looking for?"
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Post by alexanderthegreat on Dec 5, 2009 18:40:39 GMT -5
Alexander quickly recovered. Yes.
"Any information on Nerezza and Santo-Luce. Both countries' histories, their connection to each other, how the war started and why, of all questions."
Alexander straightened himself proudly, funny enough. Such a random boy. He was given strange looks before one person took off, muttering something that sounded an awful lot like, "I'll see what I can find..."
He stole a quick glance at Alex, feeling honestly a little silly for doing something like this.
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Post by Alex of Santo-Luce on Dec 5, 2009 19:54:12 GMT -5
Alex shrugged, then watched as the librarian came back with a large tome called, "The Hunter's War."
"This is what I can find immediately, although most people think it's all a bunch of rubbish. Fairly old. No one ever bothers to red it any more." She nodded, then went off to help someone else.
"That was easy," Alex remarked.
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Post by alexanderthegreat on Dec 6, 2009 11:35:35 GMT -5
"Fairly old and no one bothers to read it anymore..."
Alexander grinned.
"Sounds like the type of book I hate, which is usually the ones I should be reading! D--err, Ed, let's learn a thing or two about Nerezza and Santo-Luce!" it was almost strange how enthusiastic Alexander was to learn something...
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Post by Alex of Santo-Luce on Dec 6, 2009 13:45:44 GMT -5
Alex snickered and opened the book, then stared at the first page. It was in an interesting hand, and the same script from the book in the Santo-Lucian library, the one only he had been able to decipher. "I think we're on teh right track," he muttered.
"Nerezza and Santo-Luce - opposites so great they have been enemies for millenia. In my homeland of Santo-Luce, I was told of the atrocities of the demons of Nerezza; how the Nerezzan people were enslaved by these demons; and how no one who enters the Dark Border, as it is called by the Nerezzans, ever returns. ANy Santo-Lucian who ever finds and reads this book will know these legends... and will learn that many of them are spawned by fear and not by fact. I hope many people are taught these writings, to forestall the wars from happening again, as they are threatening to do..."
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Post by alexanderthegreat on Dec 6, 2009 14:38:57 GMT -5
"Too late," Alexander said, looking at the odd book over Alex's shoulder, "so there's no demons? Is that it?"
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Post by Alex of Santo-Luce on Dec 6, 2009 14:54:52 GMT -5
Alex shook his head. "This man says that there are... but that they're notwhat we thought."
"Nerezza, 'tis true, is filled with many strange and unusual creatures - as I know, because I journeyed there to find the truth behind the legends. These creatures certainly fit the descriptions we have of 'demons' in Santo-Luce - predatory cats with poisoned fangs, creatures who see in the night better than the day, creatures that feast on fear along with flesh... these and more, Nerezza has. But these are only the creatures, hiding within the darkness. The people that we have been told are demons, the Nerezzan rulers, the second race that lives in the darkness, these 'vampires'... I have met them. I have lived with them. And they have their own story to tell about the first wars between our peoples, and who and what we truly are.
No Santo-Lucian today would ever trust one of these, but I have a different perspective, as my life was saved by none other than the Princess Herself..."
Alex shook his head. "Amazing... this is far more than I ever hoped to find here! An actual account, by a Santo-Lucian, of history as the Nerezzans tell it."
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Post by alexanderthegreat on Dec 9, 2009 6:30:21 GMT -5
"....Vampires? Really?" Alexander blinked, listening in to the story and trying to figure out all of the information in his head. Of course, being that he'd been raised listening to a completely different story, it was hard to be unbiased himself even in his thoughts...no demons. Well, demons, but not the people they were vampires...wait, what?
Alexander shook his head. The good thing was that they'd apparently found a book about a man from Santo-Luce, the kingdom of light itself explaining exactly what Nerezza was really like...lucky for Alexander, he'd never been there before. Too dark to see.
"That's amazing. What else does this guy have to say? How did this war start?" he found himself eager to hear more information.
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Post by Alex of Santo-Luce on Dec 9, 2009 18:08:09 GMT -5
"According to this guy, yep. Vampires. As for how it started...." He flipped a couple pages.
"I asked the princess about the lies about her people, about how the warring between ourr peoples started. She seemed saddened by the thought, her expressive purple eyes showing her displeasure clearly. This is the tale she told me.
In the beginning, when people first appeared on Crepusculum, her people sprung up in the mountains of Nerezza, feeding off of the humans and animals who lived there. The humans native to the darkness were few, and it wasn't until settlers arrived across the Dark Border that Nerezza's human population outnumbered it's nonhuman one. Vampires would go into the villages and take what they needed... and, as humanity has a hard time sharing any land with any other creatures, some left with stories of the horrors. These humans would eventually become the Crepusculum people, and the Santo-Lucians.
The vampires are a matriarchal society, a tradition having to do with how their powers are passed down from generation to generation, and the Nerezzan humans were as patriarchal as any Santo-Lucian, so when a young woman took the blood of a wealthy village mayor, the citizens of the town armed themselves and went after her. She was a princess of her people, much like the one who saved my life, and, desperately, negotiated her freedom with the people of the village.
'If you agree to acknowledge our royalty,' she told them, 'we will leave you and yours in peace, and never raid another village. You will have your own Court; your children and ours will be equal.'
The villagers agreed. Soon, all villagers signed the treaty. Again, many did not like this idea, and left. The most volatile of them became Hunters, dedicated to finding the weaknesses of these superhuman people."
Alex shook his head. "Humans... never good at sharing." He continued.
"Years of uneasy peace followed with the citizens of the newly-formed Kingdom of Santo-Luce, until, one year, a king died with no male heir. His daughter was forced to choose a husband as regent; the man she chose was a Hunter. Immediately, he declared war on Nerezza, and there began the first Hunter War."
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