“The armies of Ehrengard, Andamoor, and Avanor now move together against Saxany. Many of you know well of this aspect of our greater war. It marks the approaching end of an age, and the beginning of the new one that we will all embrace together. The Saxans and the Five Realms… those enemies will soon be of little worry or consequence.
“The Midragardans are a different matter entirely. To bring Midragard under our authority, we must strike at them through the seas. Their lands lay far to the east, and deep to the south of here… to the far south of Kiruva, Gael, and Saxany. The wide sea is no small barrier. The seas are the heart of their power, and the soul of their people. And for that we must bring together the largest fleet that has ever been assembled on the oceans of this world. Ever!”
The Unifier’s gaze swept the room again, searching for any sign of hesitation from the representatives gathered there. Only fear and acquiescence met His penetrating gaze. The recognition of that was pleasing, and He savored it intimately for a moment.
“All of your lands must contribute towards the force that we will assemble, to send against the Midragardans,” He stated when He had resumed. “Ships, supplies, weapons, men, horses… all must be gathered in greater numbers at the Theonian port of Thessalas, on the edge of Garia.
“I have decided that many of My remaining Sorcerers within Avalos will be dispatched, to depart and go with you back to your own lands. You know of My blessed gifts. With My Sorcerers, to whom I have taught great and powerful arts to use in the service of mankind, you will find more help for your tasks. They will also serve as My personal representatives amongst you. As I have given you signs of My nature, so I will give you My Sorcerers.”
A wave of amazement, excitement, and not a little fear passed rapidly through the assembled representatives at the unexpected announcement. The Unifier’s perceptions, far transcending those of a mortal man, took in the eruption of reactions taking place within the minds of the emissaries.
Many thoughts had turned to the genesis of the Sorcerers, following the second of the Great Signs done by the Unifier during His ascension to power. Their minds were filled with remembrances of those incredible events, as well as the significance of the announcement that the Sorcerers of Avalos were to be dispersed among them.
There were countless accounts regarding manifestations of the Unifier’s power throughout the years, some almost too fantastical for some to believe. Yet there were only two that stood forth throughout the allied realms, undeniable realities that enjoyed multitudes of credible, and sober, witnesses.
One of the two Great Signs had occurred during a time that only a scant few of those gathered in the assemblage were even old enough to remember. It had happened not long after the rise of the Unifier to the rule of Avanor, during the nascent period of the alliance. Only seven kingdoms had come together by that time, providing the incipient foundation of support for the Unifier’s world-encompassing vision.
A great famine had spread its malignancy rampantly throughout Ehrengard, which had been one of the strongest of the initial seven kingdoms that had acquiesced to the Unifier’s will. The famine had set in motion a deadly plague, leading to other tribulations as upheaval and suffering struck out at both noble and peasant alike.
Making the situation even worse, it had happened after the death of the Sacred Emperor, Lothar V, who had died without leaving an accepted heir. A fierce period of warfare had broken out because of that, further exacerbating the misery among the people. The warring among the princes and bishops of those lands had threatened to tear the Kingdom of Ehrengard, and quite possibly the entire Sacred Empire, into useless fragments, even as the great plague ravaged the populace without mercy.
Many areas were utterly devastated, as the poor were assailed from all sides. Cattle, herds of swine, and other livestock were driven off in the maelstrom of fighting, only to be devoured by the teeming packs of slavering wolves inundating the shadowy forests. There was nowhere for the peasants to run, and they had cried out desperately to the All-Father for help. It was the most horrific time that Ehrengard had ever endured, and there were few that held out any hope for the rapidly fragmenting kingdom.
The Unifier had hastened swiftly to their lands in person, taking it upon Himself publicly to respond to Ehrengard’s cries. He had set about working His incredible, mysterious arts tirelessly.
Great numbers of individual examples testified to the Unifier’s unrivaled capability. He invoked unusual, mystical powers in the curing of great numbers of people, summoning livestock back out from the deep woods, and dampening bitter hatreds among noble rivals. Even the hordes of wolves had slunk back into the deeper regions of the forests, no longer emboldened to assail the dwellings of humankind.
The tremendous upheaval had been suppressed, and incidents of the plague disappeared swiftly from among the people. Shaken, but intact, the Kingdom of Ehrengard had survived. It was as if the Unifier’s will alone eroded the presence of the disease, and to the people, the Unifier seemed to be the direct answer to the innumerable prayers voiced to the All-Father within the churches, cathedrals, and homes all across Ehrengard. As if to accent that perception, the next harvest was extraordinarily successful, abounding more richly than it had ever done before.
A new Emperor and King, Conrad IV, had risen to acceptance in the midst of the stability. Under the Unifier’s mentoring and counsel, the young emperor had set about mending the prior divisions of the kingdom. Ehrengard, one of the seven heads of the Unifier’s foundation of strength, had suffered a seemingly mortal wound, and had been healed.
The tale of the second Great Sign was more recent, and almost every person in the room had heard it told from the mouths of actual eyewitnesses in Gallea to the spectacular event.
The astounding episode had happened in front of the outer gates of the Count’s castle in the walled Gallean city of Troia, located in the eastern county of Chamerais. King Charles III, who was the father of the current Gallean king, Philip the Fireblade, had been investing a new bishop, Payen of Avalos, with ring and staff.
Payen enjoyed great favor within Avanor, and there were some whispers about the nature of the sudden demise of the previous Bishop, a man named Rigord. Rigord’s death had been sudden, with no sign of disease or violence, despite the fact that he was far from elderly, and in the fullness of health.
Other whispers told of great influence wielded by the Unifier in regards to the Royal Bishopric and the choice of Payen. None were brave enough to voice any of the swirling suspicions in the face of the Unifier, Who had been in Troia attending the investiture ceremony.
Save for one individual.
A young and radical White Monk, Martin of Clarvas, had demonstrated enough temerity, and tenacity, to publicly confront the ascendant Avanoran ruler. The young monk had vigorously protested the nature of the Unifier’s authority. He had made fantastical accusations regarding the demise of Rigord, and had even further claimed that the Unifier was actually an outright enemy of the All-Father.
The onlookers had been stunned at the fulmination of the monk, as the Unifier appeared to all to be an Archon of the light, a figure of peace and reason unprecedented in humanity’s long-suffering history. More shocking, the monk was not simply some unknown renegade, or irascible malcontent that was always at odds with the people.
Martin hailed from the fabled monastery at Clarvas, where the White Monks had truly found their voice and gone on to flourish as one of the most renowned orders in Ave. Being a monk of the reform-oriented order conferred an outright status on him from the moment of his initiation, but Martin had distinguished himself prominently. Over the years, he had gained a great reputation, with many already comparing him to St. Fulbert, the fiery monk that had catalyzed the monastery at Clarvas, preached the Second Holy War, and supported by his argumentation the formation of the Knights of the High Altar. Great things had been expected in the young monk’s future by many, from the ranks of commoners to the heights of the Western Church.