[center][color=gold][h2][b]Supreme Tyrant Cassandalur[/b][/h2][/color]

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The throne room of the Supreme Tyrant of all of Nur Tacenie was very much an alegory for the entire country. An obviously once beautiful room with its supernatural craftmanship still visible, but that laid broken and irreparable, the whole structure even listing slightly to the left. Most of the 'seats' in the room were broken columns and loose stones that had fallen from the ceiling since it somehow felt wrong to bring in non-Tacenian craftmanship inside this place. They wanted to keep this just the way it was, as if to remember that their ancient glory hadn't been all a dream.

On the throne sat Cassandalur Elandril, Supreme Tyrant over all elves, tired, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation as he wondered why he even tried.

He knew Ella well, the deviant who had gone native. She had been one of his greatest tools at times, but now she was one of his greatest headache. All around him elves argued about the news of Ordun's raid within their territories. The discussion wasn't about what to do, everyone agreed this meant war and an invasion or Ordun, no, they argued about who should get the loot and rule over Ordun once they had won, as if victory was a sure thing.

"Its a desert. They have walls. Do you imbeciles really think this will be that easy? Does no one remember Ul-Krazel?" 

Cassandalur said, his voice prompting a silence in the room. Ul-Krazel, it had been the capital of the Krazel Kingdom, the most developed polity Tacenie had faced before, that is until now. Its walls had given them trouble and it had been in a perfect area to lay siege, the Supreme Tyrant could already see the logistical nightmare that the invasion of Ordun would be.

"Sometimes I wonder why I'm even sitting on this throne."

"Yeah, sometimes a lot of us wonder that to."

All eyes turned toward the elf who had said this, Solandil. Solandil, also known as 'Tacenie's Champion' was one of the rare elves that could claim to be undefeated in combat and one who even had been Supreme Tyrant for a while. 

Cassandalur's annoyance became anger as he rose from his throne.

"Oh really?! Do you Solandil?! Well if you're wondering, how about we resolve that right now!"

He drew his sword, to which Solandil only rolled his eyes. Cassandalur however would not let go.

"Ohhh no, you don't get to ignore me! Say it, say why it is ME who is Tyrant and not YOU!"

Indeed, in Tacenie where might made right, Solandil should be the one to rule, shouldn't he? The champion gave the Tyrant an annoyed glare but finally relented.

"Fine! You rule Cassandalur, because you have an inkling of what you're doing! And I don't! We trust you to lead us through this ordeal so please!"

The Tyrant sheathed his blade and slowly sat back down, satisfied. Solandil was right and everyone knew it. All the elves were ancient by the world's standard, but even by elven standard Cassandalur was old, so old he remembered a time before Tacenie even took off the ground, back when elves involved themselves in worldly politics during the previous age and what it took to build an empire. Solandil had tried to rule the world at the edge of a blade, but it had almost led to disaster, civil war even! Cassandalur brought stability and most could now not even conceive of another being supreme Tyrant. He may not be the strongest warrior, but none dared to challenge him.

"That's right... And as I have committed to do so, I will protect life and property of all elves, but I will decide how we will win, and what the spoils will be."

[b]tl;dr: Supreme Tyrant explains why he is in charge and commits to strike back against Ordun[/b]

[center][color=gold][h2][b]Tacenie Prepares for Battle[/b][/h2][/color][/center]

Cormak rode with Ella and her warband to meet with the legendary supreme Tyrant. He had been surprised when Ella told her she knew him personally, calling him a practical man, but she then explained that most elves knew each other, or at least of each other. It came with living such a long life. The sight of his warband was... out of this world. He personally knew what one of these warriors equipped with Tacenian Steel could do and had never seen more than 100 assembled together, but here there must have been 5000! Plus a countless number of thralls... though to his surprise, a lot of them didn't seem equiped for war, instead they looked like builders. It made sense then how quickly the army of the Supreme Tyrant established camp and even fortified it, leaving nothing to chance even in friendly territories. 

When the fated meeting finally happened in the luxurious silk tent of the Supreme Tyrant, another thing that surprised Cormak was to see among those close to Cassandalur were some humans and other non elves. Ella opened her arms as if greeting an old friend.

"Cassy! You old rascal, how have you been?"

Cassandalur's eye twitched, as if the mere presence of Ella was starting to give him a headache.

"I'm coming personally to get you out of your own mess, as I am certain you have planned that I would, so do me the favor of not 'Cassy'ing me, Ella!"

In response, the lesser Tyrant smiled and bent the knee, doing so with far more respect Cormak had ever seen Ella do in his entire life! He and the rest of her entourage did the same.

"I apologise, Cassandalur, and I thank you for lending your helping hand in these difficult times. I will repay you tricefold, this I swear."

This at least appeared to soothe the Supreme Tyrant who sighed before looking down on Ella.

"Good. You wish to repay me? Then how are the roads I commanded you to build. Did your thralls begin crop rotation the way I instructed?"

"Errr, it's uh, it's getting there, my Tyrant?"

Cormak looked at Ella with narrowed eyes. Roads? Crop rotation? Cassandalur rolled his eyes, understanding perfectly that Ella had ignored his orders. There was no anger however, unfortunately he had come to expect his own kind to never lift a finger to do anything that didn't immediately benefit them.

"You damned fool. Well you wanted me here so now I expect things to change. I expect you burned your crops to deny them to the enemy? I brought grain so your thralls don't starve and can plant new crops, which they will ROTATE with the seasons from now on! Get your people to work with mine, we'll need to build roads for the supply lines while we march into Ordun."

Ella nodded meekly to the command, simply happy to avoid punishment. Cormak however dared to rise his head to look at the Supreme Tyrant, curious about a person that obviously was a lot different from most of the elves he knew. Cassandalur spoke one final time.

"Ella. Take some of your companions, SOME of them. You will be my peace envoy to Ordun. Demand our tribute so they may not say we didn't warn them."

Ella sighed but didn't protest. She knew they would refuse, hell Cassandalur surely knew it too, but the Supreme Tyrant insisted on consistency in diplomacy.

[b]tl;dr: The Supreme Tyrant arrives and is unhappy with Ella, preparations are made to invade Ordun and send a peace envoy.[/b]