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[color=f26522]Khomerian Countryside, Khomeria[/color][/center]

Dorias sighed as his horse trotted on, looking at the nobles of Khomeria arriving in their fancy wagons decorated with all sorts of jewlery and tapestries to show their wealth. He never liked traveling in wagons, it made him feel enclosed, like he was trapped in a cage, this way, on his horse, he could admire the lands of Khomeria, it's majestic mountains, the mountains that protected and made Khomeria one of the richest provinces of the empire. He smiled, he was happy that he was leading his people to a better tomorrow, but he couldn't help think what would've happened if his brother had not given up the throne, would he have ruled like him, or would he have been a more daring and innovative king. He often thought of scenarios like these and while he disliked his elder brother for handing all the responsibility to him, he can't say he did not enjoy ruling.

However as he was thinking, his memories began to flood him, the circumstances under which he received the throne of Khomeria were less than pleasant. About 12 years ago, a disease had sprung up in Khomeria and had started to ravage the population. The king at the time, Karmius Shieldbearer and his own father had sealed the borders, allowing nobody to leave and nothing to arrive, other than the food that the region depended upon so dearly, in hope that the new disease would not spread outside the kingdom. And outside a few isolated cases, it never did spread outside of the kingdom. However that was only good for the other kingdoms, Khomeria was now suffering as it's people slowly died, not even magic being able to cure them of their ailments.

However, after two years, thanks to the king's efforts, this plague seemed to slowly die out as the numbers of the infected started dropping rapidly. Even so, more than 320.000 people had died in Khomeria, it's economy had suffered greatly thanks to the death of so many people, even the nobles suffered as their parents or children withered away. Even Karmius, his father, had lost two siblings to this plague, yet, that never stopped his efforts in trying to root out the incurable plague and now, it seemed like his kingdom could finally start recovering. Alas, it was not meant to be...

His wife, and Dorias' mother had caught the plague and was now in bed, with the best mages and healers money could buy tending to her, however, not even the most devoted of Kammeth were able to cure her. Karmius, despite the risks, had stayed with his wife almost every day, sometimes even neglecting his duties as king to stay with wife. And that did not turn out good, Karmius himself had been infected with this plague and was now in bed... however, as he was about to hand over his throne to his eldest son, Mardanis, he left the kingdom and pledged himself to the Royal Guard, leaving Dorias to lead the kingdom at the age of 14.

Dorias shook these thoughts out of his mind and looked around at the countryside, even here, there were several small forges, with smiths working tirelessly to shape the steel and gold that made Khomeria a nation of the rich. His eyesight, then fell on his bodyguard, the Iron Guard. Professional soldiers clad in thick steel plate armor, a massive steel shield a oak spear with a steel tip and a steel shortsword they could draw upon in case they would lose their spear. These men were the best trained troops in Khomeria and also the most loyal to the royal family, for their service, the kingdom awarded the families significant sums of gold for the risk these troops take in protecting the emperor, even during the Plague, the kingdom never fell short on repaying their families for giving away their sons, brothers or fathers to serve the royal family. And the money for their training and equipment was well worth it, a phalanx of these soldiers was a steel fortress within itself and with the aid of a war magi or two, they would become impervious to magic as well, though he knew all too well that these troops were troops made to defend rather than to attack, it was a reason why the Khomerian kings never tried to expand beyond their own mountain territories.

As he was lost in thought however, he failed to realize that they had already reached the massive fortress of Vermilias, the fortress placed on the only entrance towards the nations heartlands of Khomeria and the capital itself. He would soon get out, which meant, he would soon leave the safety of his nation, but instead of being nervous, he embraced this, he smiled as a new and beautiful world opened up to him.

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[color=f26522]Fortress of Vermilias, Khomeria[/color]

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