[Tuidjy]

Caelum, Turn 0

“... the watchtower's gate came crashing down before the vine ogres' onslaught.
All that remained between the nation of Caelum and oblivion were two handfulls
of warriors under the command of an young storm general. They had little hope
they would see another dawn, but they wanted to die under the open sky, and
sallied out. Arrows did little to the creatures, and the general was about to
lead his spearmen into a final charge when he heard shouts from the enemy rear.

The concentration of the bloodhedge druids wavered as their escorts swarmed
around a hazy shape. The general saw his chance, flew over the disoriented
vine creatures and dove through a gap in the bodyguards’ ranks. Only a moment
passed before the brightest of his men followed, and soon no enemy commander
lived. Deprived of magical leadership, the vine constructs stood in place,
and did nothing as they were taken apart by the vengeful warriors.

The general walked to the thickest cluster of vine ogres. He had to use his
blade to hack his way to the center of the pile-up, fully expecting to find
the mangled body of his unexpected ally...”

From ‘Reign of the Ghost King’


Caelum: Turn 1

I feel like a fraud. My only consolation is that, no matter how ridiculous
the whole charade seems to me, life in Caelum has gotten quite a bit better
in the past month. The lands near the watchtower are safe and orderly, the
serfs have stopped looking over their shoulders and jumping at their own
shadows... Hard as it may be to believe, they seem to be almost happy to be
paying taxes, or at least, that there is someone to actually collect them.

One has to wonder, how did things get so out of control? Do small folks
truely need leaders that are somehow different? Well, I cannot claim that I
understand exactly who or even what I am, but I am different enough. And that
officer from the watchtower is certainly eager enough to tell everyone how I
have returned to lead the nation of Caelum to glory and prosperity. He
certainly makes a better preacher than he is a general - people have started
calling him a prophet, and he has thrown together some silly shrine at the
site of that first battle. He took my lack of wings in stride, and to hear
him tell it, I used to serve as an elite temple guard, died heroically in some
great battle ages ago, and came back in this hour of hardship. I think he has
come to believe his own yarns.

I certainly don’t. My first memory is of finding myself in the middle of the
battle at the watchtower, and who knows what I would have done had the vine
ogres not taken away any choice I may have had. But even then, I knew a few
cantrips from wildly different magic paths – nothing truly impressive, but
also nothing a temple guard would know.

I have decided that it does not matter. People believe they need me, and I
hardly see myself looking for some forsaken ruin to haunt. I would much
rather spend some time in a well-lit library, and see whether the spellbooks
can stir my memory. I wonder whether I can find someone to help me with this.
After all, Caelum is supposed to have the best mages in the world. They have
obviously gone to ground in the recent troubles, but I’ll put the word out,
and maybe someone will show up.

I’ll have the storm general take care of this. I am sure that I will see him
in the library. He has been going through the old religious tomes, looking for
any references to male priests. I can’t see why it matters – as far as I’m
concerned, his priesthood, much like my supposed divinity, is mostly a matter
of belief. At least, while he’s reading, he is not embarassing me with his
prayers.

Speaking of embarassment and believers, some shady character has been hanging
around. He must have been in the watchtower when the vine ogres attacked,
and had the guts to pick up an ice blade and join the fray. I am pretty sure
that he used to be a thief, but now he has found religion, and wants to make
himself useful. I’ll send him to the nearby port in Mukhtadir and ask him to
keep his ears open. If the rumors are true, the recent troubles were not
confined to Caelum. While we may have secured the nearby lands, strife and
conflict have a way of boiling over and scalding everyone nearby.