Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

Sitting upon a throne of heavy iron, a greatsword and great helm leaning over next to the legs, Alisart Cleavster garbed much similarly to his loyal knights, many of them standing around the room and patrolling the halls of the castle, unlike his three contemporaries, who lived in a cave, a small weathered hut, and a simple room suspended above the void, he lead a comparatively lavish existence.

The three other main regions had remained without lords, and some without any populations for a majority of the warlord era of Belliste, even during the golden age of the empire, those regions were left neglected, the Southern Shores and Central Plains held all the ressources, they held the fertile soils, they held rivers, lakes, easy access to the ocean as it was the only region that was not significantly elevated, indeed, the edges of the other regions gave into steep, tall cliffs, improper for any sort of fishing.

Those two regions also had access to great quantities of ores and stone, the south had once been in much a similar state as the plains, locked in constant combat between dozens of minor warlords, as such ,seizing the entire regions and booting all opposition out was a feat none of the other lords could compare to, and that without any special means of power.

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Using the resources available, Alisart ruled over prosperous lands, and built himself a fortified castle, not too great in size, surrounded by moats, it was not exactly comfortable living as it was mostly made with defence in mind, still, it left any other of the royal residences of his fellow lords in the dust.

His face covered in scars, listening to reports coming from the farmlands told by one of his knights, the majority of his people were farmers and fishermen, they formed the heart of this region whilst the knights and soldiers were its bones and skin.

The whistling had grown louder and more repetitive, the rider in white had been but a taste of what was to come, other headless creatures began scouring the countryside, dressed in black instead, always acting alone, the rider in white did not appear again since then, leaving space for his fellows, thankfully, their solitary movements meant that Alisart's knight could always gain enough of an upperhand to force the undead's away, but it was still recent, there was no telling if the headlesses would begin moving in groups.

However, his knights were not afraid of this possibility, not fearing the challenge in the least.

'Mmh, it's been five days, the riders in black are much more aggressive than the ones in white… They will probably show up in other regions as well eventually, I should call for another meeting…' leaning his chin upon one hand, the report about night encounters quickly concluded and the regular parade settled in, Cleavster often held audiences for anyone that wanted to speak of any matter, although the regions were all immense, they held a comparatively small population, so really, the problem of one farmer or fisherman was a problem for pretty much everyone.

And honestly, it was as good of a passtime as any, but it had an unfortunate effect.

"My lord, behold my beautiful daughter, strong and dashing!" it had the adverse effect of bringing many who wished to marry their daughter to their glorious lord, who remained without any spouse to this day, after all, the settlement of the four great rulers was still relatively recent, there were no wizened old lords, all were young and still brimming with vitality, they were all ripe to create some heirs.

"I'll consider it" he refused politely, knowing very well that this was not the last one of the day, if anything, if he was to take a wife, it would obviously have to be one of his knights, but then again, he felt that this was a bit weird too, like marrying your cousin because she was the only woman available.

Looking up, Alisart suddenly leapt from his throne, taking notice of high cloud of smoke looming in the distance right through an opening near the ceiling, near the entrance to the throne room, a ladder could be taken to lead to a balcony meant for soldiers to watch over the surroundings using the special longviews the south had a blueprint for laying around.

"Well, would you look at that! Aramap!" calling for his second-in-command, the warking gladly escaped the audiences he had himself allowed.

"The folks that brought their daughters can go back home, the others, be sure to hear them out, alright?" he told the knights guarding the way out of the throne room, sliding on the great helm, strapping his greatsword to the side, he was quickly joined by Aramap.

"I have never said this before, but Combuscrus and his needle arms can be blessed! Perfect timing, just as I was thinking of setting up a meeting myself… You know what Aramap?"

"What my lord?" both of their voices deformed by their helms, they reached the stables, thanks to their horses, they would probably be the very first to get there.

"Perhaps I should marry one of his pyromancers, some fire flinging could only do us some good, don't you think? Ah ah!"

The knight shook his head, knowing very well that this was not going to happen, Aramap had stood with Alisart since the very beginning, he knew his lord very well by now and his type of women as well, Alisart was very much focused on pure physical strength and the wielding of weapons, he admired a sculpted body and a strong spirit.

Which was why Aramap was amongst those who actually thought that his king should either go for a knight, or just relent and agree to Derdlim Maulerd's proposal, as negative as being a cannibal may be, she also had the positive of ruling another major region and being strong.

A ruler should not settle for just anyone, marriage was a powerful tool in their arsenal after all, however, none of the other warlords had descendance, so there really only was the man-eater available for a political marriage.

The knight kept his thoughts to himself for now, and they silently rode into the Central Plains, where it had been decided that they would meet, the warlords here were all weak and without much forces at all, currently alive only because fighting had been made to cease, otherwise, they would be changing every other day.

The place they had chosen to establish their little round table was rather rickety and not at all regal, and as expected, the knight king was the first to arrive.

Soon followed by Irlke Combuscrus, who had gotten some advance as he had made his pyromancers send the smoke message.

Then Derdlim Maulerd and lastly, Jaral Cribler.@@novelbin@@