GOBSlayer

Two

Two

The Rhast Arrival

The kingdom of Lorr was everything it should have been. The stuff of legends and storybooks, the land was fruitful and the people were happy. Ruled by a king from a castle on a hill, Lorr had existed virtually unchanged for many centuries.

It was an autumn morning when the ships were first spotted on the horizon of the Infinite Sea. They were unlike any that had ever been seen before. Hulking and made of metal, yet swift and powered by neither wind nor oar, the vessels moved as if by magic. Nine ships made anchor off the western coast.

Those who came ashore brought weapons and equipment beyond wonder. They came not as conquerors but as explorers and traders. The people of Lorr’s coastal villages met them in peace and learned much.

They called themselves the Rhast. They came from across the sea, from a land called Rhastor where society was driven by technology and science. They looked like men, but spoke an unknown language. Each wore a strange device around their neck that translated their words into the common language of Lorr, and in turn, the Lorreans’ words were translated back. After centuries of mining, their land had been stripped of much-needed metals, and they came offering knowledge and technology in exchange for Lorr’s natural resources.

News of the Rhast’s arrival quickly spread and soon reached the ears of King Borlan, ruler of Lorr. Borlan, fearing the story of these newcomers’ power was true, sent an army to the coast to engage them. It did not go well. The Rhast bore such a technological advantage, they easily put down the army’s advance with weapons that fired bolts of energy and shields seemingly made of light. The Rhast were unbeatable. Or so it seemed.

Only Elbore, a magic wielder who traveled with the Lorrean army as an advisor, was able to match the power of this new technology. For magic was a force the Rhast had never encountered, nor believed to exist. However, no other magic users were present that day, and Elbore was unable to hold the Rhast indefinitely on his own. King Borlan had no choice but to meet with the newcomers and discuss an agreement of peaceful trade and cooperation. After a short deliberation, a deal was struck, and the Rhast boarded their ships and left.

Within weeks of the Rhast’s exit, people’s lands began to be seized by the kingdom. Taxes were raised and valuables confiscated. It didn’t take long to realize what the king was after: metal. Any land found to contain even a meager vein of iron or any other metal was seized in the name of King Borlan. The Rhast ships returned regularly carrying new varieties of gadgets and gizmos, and then left again, their hulls filled with Lorrean ore. Soon, technology of almost every kind began to flood the kingdom. Even more than electronic gadgetry, the kingdom was inundated with other inventions such as automobiles and motorized horses called cycles. Paved roads and highways were built to support this new traffic. Long distance communication became popular with the introduction of comm devices that sent messages through the air. Giant data towers constructed throughout the kingdom carried information far and wide.

Along with changes to the landscape, the very way of life of every resident of Lorr was changed in fundamental and shocking ways. All from Rhast technology. Only the most advanced, cutting-edge energy weapons were withheld by the Rhast, for their own protection.

Around that same time, strict new laws were enacted banning the use of magic. A booklet was distributed throughout the kingdom, supposedly written by Borlan himself, claiming that magic of any sort was the work of demons and its use was punishable by exile or death. Bounties were offered to anyone who captured a magic wielder, dead or alive. Fortune seekers and mercenaries took up the title of magic hunter and scoured the land in search of the demon-possessed.

Frightening accounts of people being burned at the stake based upon mere accusation sent terror through the land. The common people began to rebel, fighting and dispelling magic hunters wherever they were met. To quell an uprising, the king dispatched a Rhast-built army of mechanical soldiers called goblins to maintain order. Goblin numbers continued to increase until every town, village, and hamlet in the kingdom was under the “protection” of the king’s minions. To make matters worse, in an attempt to seed excitement among his subjects, Borlan announced the creation of the Fire Trials, essentially turning the execution of accused magic users into a spectator sport.

That was ten years ago.