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[indent][color=gray][h2]Selections from the Libraries of Keithon[/h2]The last king of the Fell Age claimed he was in love with a Ruse. To satisfy her unending thirst, he spilled all the blood she could drink. He burned his own villages, buried his lords and vassals, stabbed his servants, beheaded his council, and slit his children's throats so that his beloved might live. When there was no one left -- when the kingdom was reduced to ash and the castle was empty -- the Ruse disappeared. To this day, the old castle is haunted by the ghost of the mad king; he still wanders the halls, searching for blood so that his love might return to him once again.
-- [i]Rumors of the Ruse by Cera Servin[/i]

According to popular belief, the first Ruse sighting was in 1042, when Ameline, Duchess of Rook, claimed she was being followed by a cat with no eyes. She disappeared shortly afterward and was declared dead in 1044. Claims that she had been spotted wandering the Drea forest as late as 1237 have been largely discredited by Casperian scholars.
-- [i]Origins of the Ruse Madness by Elwen Fersigold[/i]

Sightings of the Ruse dropped off sometime between 1138 and 1141, which were also the years when the last monarchs died or went crazy. Although it's clear that these facts are directly related, in some contemporary circles the explanation fabricated by the onion farmer Leomond Sormander persists. Sormander claimed that during an ice storm in 1137 he had single-handedly captured and imprisoned the fabled 'King of the Ruse'. The location of this prison was never revealed and his methods were never described except as 'with a trowel'. A privately owned statue of Sormander stands at the site of his onion field (now a cabbage field) in the Eye of Oros. At the time of this writing the statue is missing its nose, which alteration this author personally believes to be an improvement.
-- [i]The Farmer's Guide to Nature's Anarchy by Amos BalSeng[/i]

Speculation has been made regarding the nature and purpose of the Ruse, but no two experts agree. They may be spirits of Nature bent on destroying civilization. They may be ghosts of the deceased, or demigods or gods themselves. For the purposes of this book I will set forth my own opinion, that the Ruse are simply half-formed or damaged spirits. They have no physical shape, so they take the form of other beings: they mimic other life, hence their name. Their hollow eyes are a symbol of their lack of capacity for human understanding. In their efforts to discover themselves they have consequently -- and accidentally -- destroyed the lives of thousands. We should not blame the childlike Ruse for our dead and our disaster, for they truly do not know any better than what they have done. But as long as they live, whatever their intention, we will mourn in their wake.
-- [i]The Psychology of Liars by Hiram Long[/i]

Hope is light when the world seems only darkness. Hope is our children. Hope is love. Hope is the smell after the rain, because even the most terrible of storms must pass.
-- [i]Unknown, from a relic found in the ruins of Kimberton[/i][/color][/indent]