Perhaps not so far away, no more than half a day's walk by foot and far, far less by steed, there stood a frumpy man with a furled brow and a broad if not magnificent beard before a sign. There upon its wooden features, innumerable decrees found themselves plastered atop one another by nail, the most recent one - that which this both burly and portly fellow added - read simply;

[center][I][b]By The Order of His Majesty[/b]
To All Subjects of the Land
There Shall Be No Travel Beyond the Realm
Not by Fantastic or Mundane Means, to Include All Others
Those that Violate this Royal Order Shall be Placed in the
Stockades or be Lawfully Subject to Worse Punishment
as the Crown or its Deputies Assigned by His Hand See Fit
Consider this Document to Serve as Proof of His Rightful
Command in His Bodily Absence from Evenshire.[/I][/center]

Gruff as he was, arms folded across his chest, his demeanor was not so much leveled at the message as it was the fact it was written. Surely the king of the land, who ordered these nobles who honored fealty to him to place such signage, knew the peasant folk could not read, let alone travel anywhere quite that far. Just who in the world could this have been for? The notion of [i]why[/i] never crossed the dwarf's mind as he slipped the workman's hammer back into his leather pack, it was none of his business, but there had to have been a better way. Of course, the gathering onlookers that slowly built a crowd began to murmur amongst themselves to what they thought it meant, but not before the man berated them for gossiping. 

[i]"If ye can'unt read it, it ain't for ye, so quit the likes of yer yapping."[/i]

[i]"Then what's it for?"[/i] Another voice yelled, trying to blend into the crowd.

[i]"'Tis for them folks that can!"[/i] His retort came as he slung the pack and faced them, of which were mostly men and a few women, all dressed in filthy earth tones and who should be going about their days rather than asking questions.

[i]"But... it must be -"[/i]

[i]"Ye, it be important alright, 'cause the nobles told me to tack it. Simple really, 'There shant be any travel'n outside the realm.' None of yer business, ya see? Now get."[/i] The stern man frowned waving them off with a flick of his hands in their direction, to which they started to disperse from on their own accord.

It was true, just as the bearded fellow claimed, that the message had no impact or value on their life. The sole reason this realm even existed at all was because of its magical aptitude in this day and age when, unbeknownst to all present barring the dwarf, the rest of the stars above seemed to be [i]littered[/i] with countless forms of newfangled, complicated, fragile technology. The sort of things that break when a wizard unleashes a lightning bolt that goes rogue - not like mithral or adamantine, things the dwarf put his faith in. Magic wasn't his forte, something the bald yet bearded fellow could do, but not well. It was enough to keep him out of trouble and in good graces, as with this work, but there was still much to come from that.