Interests

{Excerpts}

The Faceless, an elite group of highly organised individuals bred, trained and governed with the sole purpose of maintaining nought but eternal loyalty to the second God of the Creed of the Twins; The God of death.

Although much is left unknown about the elusive group. It is speculated by reliable sources that members of the Faceless are selected from among the believers of the Lord of Light (The first God of the church of the twins), and are even sometimes outright purchased as slaves presumably, at very young ages.

After passing a mysterious selection process and training regime, they exit as calamitously efficient killers. Ones who see themselves as a part of a collective whole rather than just a sole individual. They are subservient only to the priestesses of the Creed,(who are deemed the messengers of the divine siblings, and the bearers of their will).

Although many deny this theory, even among the nobility and among members of the sanctuary of scrolls, there is not much intelligence on the Creed of the twins and its dreadful Faceless. The debate regarding the efficient development of such an elite group still hangs up in the air and is a major topic among Udorian scholars and power-movers.

Despite its elusive origins, the Faceless is still a rather infamous group of killers and spies acknowledged throughout the entirety of Udoris for their secrecy and efficiency. Specializing in espionage, impersonation, sabotage, infiltration and assassinations, they excel in instilling fear, especially among the aristocracy.

The Creed of the twins, which oversees the development and management of the Faceless is regarded as a highly volatile group of individuals, notorious for being uncontrollable, regularly unreasonable and extremely willful. It is an organisation that does things regardless of the cost, without considering the rules imposed by other powers as long as it is in line with their predetermined ambitions.

Their irrationality, unpredictability and willful nature resulted in them being considered undesirable by most other powers in Udoris. A few of which once attempted various means to uproot the church over the many decades, but unsurprisingly, were always instead met with failure and heavy retaliation from The Faceless.

This fact alone had over the years dissuaded other bodies of influence from actively seeking the church's ire unless meeting with a lack of alternatives but to directly confront them. Even if forced to directly confront the Creed, most organisations would simply assume a diplomatic stance, preferring rather avoid resorting to violence.

So while the church of the twins lacks a powerful army much unlike any of the seven kingdoms or a large faith militant group like the Band of the Six they can stand on equal grounds with these giants.

They are relatively weak in a confrontation with any of these powers, but none can hope to sleep peacefully with The Faceless lurking perpetually in the dark.

Excerpt from Jonas Diane's fourth book on Udorian powers- 'Religious Fallacies'.

{END}

18.13.1623 S.T.

An encampment at the fringes of...

Windy Fir Woodlands, Alvia province.

Algrim

…

VAIU WAS BORED, A FEELING of restless anticipation bubbling in a corner of her mind. On the table in front of her was a large, geopolitical map covered in faint chess-like grids denoting distance. Wooden tabletop pieces that could be moved across it in a free-form manner (subject only to terrain obstacles like routes, roads and borders) lay across it, each representing some political power or presence.

At a corner of the table was a small pile of parchment slips. All of which were covered in neatly scribbled writing.

“I have compiled it, Matriarch,” a woman sitting off to the side reported.

The brown-haired woman had spent nearly ten minutes sifting through parchment slips, collating the data they contained all into one scroll. There were just a dozen messages? Why not just read everything yourself? It’s much quicker isn’t it? One might ask, deeming the task pointless. Well, Vaiu simply couldn’t be bothered. Authoritarian laziness was one of the only perks she got doing what she did, and delegating pointless tasks to others definitely wasn’t something she would pass up. There is a certain pleasure in being unnecessarily insufferable to those beneath you.

“Thank you,” Vaiu smiled pleasantly at the poker-faced woman as she collected the diligently compiled note before passing it on to the third person in the room.

“Could you read this for me, Lovell,” Vaiu smiled as her niece received the note with a barely concealed exasperated glint in her eyes.

“Yes, Matriarch,” the dark-haired beauty said as she turned her gaze to the note. Lovell fell silent as she read the note, her expression growing more solemn as the seconds went by. The silence seemed to drag on for several moments before suddenly Lovell clenched her fist, ruthlessly crumpling the edges of the note as her knuckles turned white.

Hmmm.

“What happened, Lovell?” Vaiu asked, baffled, her expression morphing from mildly sadistic boredom to a faint curiosity.

“My apologies, Aunt,” her niece said, looking up from the scroll. “I got carried away for a moment.”

“We might have a problem then,” Vaiu commented, still staring at her niece. It’s not often one gets to see an enraged or an even mildly agitated Lovell. There must definitely be a problem.

“What is it, dearie?” Vaiu asked, “It is not often I see you looking this worried.”

Lovell simply sighed in response, dropping the note on the table in front of her as she massaged her temples.

“Well, according to the intel here, Hertalese succeeded in annexing Alvia province and have begun fortifying their positions.” Lovell gestured to the map. She casually removed the Algrian royal household’s emblem from the grid, before tossing it into a basket by the side, replacing it with the emblem of the Hertalean royal family.

“All other provinces received written letters from King Tuhkus of Hertalese imploring them to put down their arms and send their oaths of fealty as well as a tribute to aid post-war efforts in restoring the capital to functioning condition. These letters have been mostly ignored, with more attention being paid to the ongoing conflict between Claula, Erytria and Zagia provinces which erupted shortly after the king’s capture was confirmed. The dispute is said to be over a series of large crystal ore mines previously controlled by the crown along the borders of the provinces concerned.”

Pausing for a moment, Lovell sighed again before continuing.

“The royal household of the Kingdom of Verum released two announcements shortly after the capture of the king. Firstly, the Verumitte crown had finally confirmed that they indeed approved the second fleet’s intervention in the ‘reformation’ of Algrim. As well as approving materiel loans, ship leases and monetary sponsorships from certain vassals to ensure the success of the war effort.

“They also announced that their second fleet, which aided in the war effort, will remain at the Ignis basin. They are to anchor off the coast of the Cinden islands, indefinitely, to support the ‘reformation’ of the ‘rogue’ state, Algrim, and ensure the ‘safety’ of their allies inland.

“After these announcements, Hertalese immediately released a public marriage proposal on behalf of the crown prince, Everhard Wesselbutum to Verum’s first princess, Alina Scymaester. The notice implored that the marriage would further unify their nations' bonds. Verum has yet to release an official response to this.

“Shortly afterwards, the Blacksail, sponsored by the kingdom of Aries, attacked Hertalese and are currently ravaging the southern coastal regions of Kerezo province. Aries soon released an announcement confirming the sponsorship and claimed it was retribution against Hertalese for disrupting Udorian peace. With the Hertelean first and second fleets invested in the war effort, its southern coastal regions are now incapable of mounting any significant defence.

“Verum’s first fleet attempted to intervene but was routed by a joint fleet of Aries second fleet and Blacksail’s capital vessels, the opposing fleets are currently in a tense standoff off the shores of Roclif province, Verum.

“Aries first fleet has begun erecting a naval blockade off Hormouth bay to prevent Verumitte merchant ships in the Lichtona gulf from accessing Buxster sea, and The Blacksails have begun boldly patrolling out of Demon’s bay in Verum’s territorial waters while flying their flags, causing unrest amongst the nobility and common folk who inhabit the coastal region.

“In response, Tequilan, Quiltonitte and Ivonnian crowns released letters of condemnation. All have agreed to amass a joint fleet in the Morgan Channel off the shores of Vilevane to ‘defend the interests of Algrim’s remaining vassals. Quilton has also announced it would order a crusade across the border into Algrim if Hertalese attempts to forcibly subdue any of the remaining Algrian vassals, halting the Hertalean advance.

“An Ivonnite army has been ordered to begin amassing at the Grotha-Buzely border, pressuring the Hertalean crown to provide a sufficient response despite their already strained resources.”

Vaiu raised a brow in surprise. “All this happened in the twelve days it took us to get here and re-establish communications? Impressive.”

“It seems so, aunt,” Lovell nodded, dropping all formalities.

“Well, things just happened to move faster than expected then,” The Matriarch said, crooking a brow. “Nothing unusual has happened yet, and the other kingdom's reactions to the annexations haven’t deviated too far from what is expected to be of any risk to our plans, so why the grim face?”

“There were a few complications at Greenfields,” Lovell finally admitted with yet another sigh, her delicate brows bunched up into a tight frown. “Levi’s adopted brother mutinied upon receiving the news, during which Levi was heavily injured.”

“Oh,” Vaiu uttered, startled. “Oh, no. Is he alright?”

“The note says he’ll survive,” Lovell replied, shutting her eyes. “Though not long after, one of their vassals began acting up in the hopes of expanding their territory. Before the Priestess in charge of the region could intervene to safely extract him out, that idiot decided to sneak into Redwater and stage an insurrection.”

“...Is he… alright?” Vaiu could only ask, unsure of what to make of the news.

“He is fine. But, why would he take such a stupid risk? It's so unlike him,” Lovell muttered, with a little more than a hint of resentment in her tone. “I swear when I get my hands on the man…”

“It’s ok,” Vaiu consoled. She could see her niece’s point of view, but now was a much better time to make what corrections they still could. She could discipline her little man all she wanted later when they met.

Lovell exhaled softly, shutting her eyes for a moment before she continued with her report.

“He somehow managed to subdue the rebelling vassal and both Redwater and Greenfields are now under a lockdown. They seem to be doing a really good job since the priestess predicts that it might progressively get harder to relay messages. It seems he put up a rather hefty bounty for anyone attempting to send messages out of the town. The punishment for disobedience mentioned in the letter seems rather… harsh at the very least.”

“Are you sure it is Levi you are talking about?” Vaiu asked, her brows crooked in a questioning gesture. “I do not remember him being so resourceful in matters of these sorts.”

The tent flap opened, and an abbess walked in wearing a white dress and cloak. A black veil covering her face and hiding her features. The woman bowed to the Matriarch and then Lovell before turning with a bow towards the third lady who had remained respectfully silent so far. She handed a note to the brown-haired lady sitting solemnly in the background before quietly leaving the tent.

“I am sure the priestess would have informed us of such if that was the case,” Lovell said, subconsciously ignoring the departing abbess. “But there seem to be no other problems besides these—”

“Pardon my intrusion, Your Holiness,” The third woman said, interrupting Lovell, “But the Faceless that was sent out three days ago has returned with your quarry.”

“Aden?” Vaiu asked, an excited glint flashing in her eyes for a moment.’ Finally!’ she thought to herself

"Yes, my lady," the brown-haired woman who Vaiu seemed to have forgotten her name said, “the princess and queen as well.”

"Where is he then? Bring him to me." The Matriarch said regally, seemingly completely missing the other half of her assistant’s sentence.

"Yes, right away my lady." The woman replied as she left for the exit.

"Should I leave?" Lovell asked, her tone faintly exasperated. Hypocrite.

"No,” Vaiu said, pointedly deciding to ignore the younger woman’s eye roll.

Now alone with her niece, the matriarch’s expression softened, shedding a portion of her inviolable aura.

“How do I look?” Vaiu asked, patting down her spotless crimson dress and adjusting her hair, inexorably eliciting an amused glance from her niece.

“What?” the matriarch rebutted as she turned towards the exit, pouting. “It’s not like you are any better. Getting worked up because ‘someone’ finally decided to grow a pair and snatch some territory for himself.

“Tch!” Vaiu clicked her tongue imperiously. “Hypocrite.”

...

Aden heaved a deep sigh as walked in tow after a short, brown-haired woman wearing a jet-black dress with a black shawl partially covering her hair. The queen and princess were absent due to being forced to stay behind, and while he did feel uncomfortable about the arrangement, he was fully aware that there was little he could do but cooperate.

At a moderated pace, the duke followed behind the woman until he reached the entrance of a relatively large tent. Lifting the entrance flap the woman gestured for him to enter.

Aden complied, entering to the sight of two women seated upon cushions around a rather large table. A stranger who seemed barely older than his youngest son and another whom he was quite familiar with.

“...It’s been a while,” Aden said suddenly, breaking the tense silence. His expression was bland, but his eyes held a hint of a complex emotion. Forlornness? Unease? Caution?

“Yes. Yes, it has,” Vaiu said, her expression stoic. But despite the bland expression on her face, the index finger on her right hand twitched nervously under his gaze, a tick the duke was quick to pick on.

“You look nervous,” Aden commented with a crooked brow. For some reason he found the scene amusing to watch.

“No. No, I am not,” the matriarch denied with a mild cough, “why would I be? You are the captive here.”

Aden fell silent for a moment before chuckling mildly, his gaze clearing and losing a bit of its edge for a moment.

Then he smiled, saying.

“How have you been, little red?”

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