Recovered Journals and Documents

Notable excerpts from journals, letters, documents, and magical intel found or recovered from various missions.

Journal of Dagio the Great
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• I no longer know what year it is, what decade it is, and having discovered that I will not die from the ravages of time, I believe it is time I set to pen and paper a record of my life, that future generations will be able to read of my legacy and know the great and powerful legacy of their god. I was once a simple rat and a magical companion to my master, a young wizard named Eros Glendower. He became enamored with circles, with its immaculate perfection, and the promise it constantly whispered of immortality. He realized that death is a price for common folk and that true nobility were beyond such things…
• … It is time I write of my birth, or rather, my true birth. My birth into grand nobility, above that of the gods and peasantry subject to death. My master took us deep below the senate to rooms long since hidden to time. He drew a circle of diamond dust and began casting his spell. He was not worthy, however, he cast the spell wrong, and as the arcane magic filled his mortal flesh, he attempted to save himself by casting the magic into me. The fool! The spell consumed him, and in its wake, I was born, immortal and eternal, and I will reign here in the true senate of Taldor forever. From here, I control the most powerful empire in the world…
• … I found his ashes again today. I had nearly forgotten what he smelled like, but the reminder of burning hair and roasting mage filled me with pity. I took what was left of his ashes and drew a perfect circle, spending hours making sure my calculations were exactly right. Here, on this table, his memorial will stand eternal, as the circle is eternal. The circle, which brought me immortality, will bring my power ever further…
• … I stole my wand of power from the immortal guarding the library. My followers and I have settled in the Senate, where I sit as judge and god. From here, we weave the power of fate itself, drawing circles throughout the senate thus turning the wheels of destiny wheresoever we will. I send them to the ground above to bring back food and riches from our kingdom, and spread the circle wider still…
• … Lives are fleeting unless they’re round. I carved one weak peasant today with a circle and his life was spent, but with his body, I had the ink to draw more. The circles leaked down the walls, loosing their initial perfection, but showing exactly how the radius and circumference of the circle changed the power of gravity on the bloody ink. This showed me how wrong I was, my math only scratched the surface on the perfection of the circle before, but I will start again to define the origin of god itself. 3.14159…
• - Journal recovered from the horde of a large rat beneath the Senate. Picture found drawn within the cover, titled, "Self-Portrait of the Lord of Circle's." Excerpts selected by Hypatia Crabbe.

Journal of Martella Lotheed - Sinora Academy
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  4693 AR
• Gul dropped me off last week, and I’ve been instructed to record my thoughts in a journal. Everything I own was packed neatly into five trunks and I was driven to the Sinora Academy. Dad saw me off and hugged me tightly. I told him I loved him, and he whispered he loved me too, though not loud enough for mum to hear. If I can manage to learn magic, I can come home, but until then, I’m going to need to stay here. It’s nice here at least. Madame got me a cup of tea and visited with me while the servants unpacked my stuff into my room. I hate having to share my room with others though, there’s four of us here, two in each bedroom with an attached sitting room. I’ve heard that the older children have single-occupant rooms, though they still share an attached sitting room between each pair. I can’t wait to grow up.
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  4694 AR
• I didn’t get to go home for holidays this year either. It’s lonely being here without anyone else. The others have come to realize that I don’t have the pocket money they have, and it’s been rather isolating. Dad still sends me an allowance, but it’s nothing like what the other girls have. We got along well when I first got here, but now we don’t play as much. They say they’ve grown up too much to play with dolls anymore, and none of them can stand bugs. I caught a frog the other day and Patricia screamed so loud I dropped him and he started hopping around, causing a panic. She said she’s not my friend anymore and that I can’t be around her or the other girls again. I didn’t mean anything by it…
• 
  4695 AR
• I spent the new year alone. I have too much homework to work on anyway to spend time at the parties. No one’s there to miss me, and I don’t have the money to spend on that. Instead, I’ve been working on refining my combustion turbine. I wanted to see if I could launch this into the sky alongside the pyrotechnics, but it isn’t ready.
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  4696 AR
• I’m the top of my class, and everyone knows it. Patricia said it makes sense that I’m a bookworm since I have gross inky hair. I like my hair and my books. Madame says they’re just envious because I’m smart, but that doesn’t make me feel better. I still can’t do any magic but I know more than half the girls in school, and I can build things they couldn’t come up with in their dreams. Mister Geonorg says I’m the brightest pupil he’s had since he started teaching here, but he recommends I learn to fit in with the other girls. He said, “You don’t have to like the things they like, just learn to look the part. Then they’ll accept you and you can use their dim minds and stuffed pocketbooks to do whatever you want.” I like his advice better.
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  4697 AR
• I was finally getting along with the other girls, well enough at least, before they moved me. Patricia said I was picking on her and turning her friends against her and complained to Madame. Madame decided to move me up two years, saying that I already understand these things well enough. Now I’m behind in all my classes, I don’t know anyone, and no one wants to get to know the “new girl two years too small.” Why did they have to put me here?
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  4698 AR
• I’ve been tutoring Eutropia for almost four months now, and I think she’s the first person here I can call a friend. I also met Gloriana, her childhood best friend, and we’ve been hitting it off. Eutropia has enough to pay for me when my allowance doesn’t cover, and Gloriana has been teaching us both how to dance. I don’t know what they see in me, and I have a feeling Gloriana doesn’t trust me just yet, but she does like me enough that we can all spend the days together.
• Eutropia's brother died earlier this year, and since his funeral, school is all she’s felt she’s had. She told me she made a promise, a promise to change everything, to fix everything. I don’t know what she means by that yet, but she’s determined, and I’m determined to help as best as I can. I’ve never had anyone I wanted to help before, but I feel in my bones that I need to. Maybe this is why I’m still here.
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  4699 AR
• Eutropia beat Calhadion in a duel today! Spanked his ass more like; he got tangled up and she tossed him into a pond. He was swearing at her so much he was escorted off the grounds; it was delicious! Eutropia has me convinced that whenever anyone asks me out, to always say “No” the first time – that’s the true test of their manhood. Most give up, several throw fits, and none of them are worth my time. Maybe if one's cute and persistent... but none have come that far. Calhadion was swearing about how we’re worse than his cousin, which just makes me want to send her a letter and find out if there’s a Vernisant with half a brain.
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  4700 AR
• I tested my design at the new year, and it worked! Well, it didn’t work the way I wanted, bhut it did do something. It shot up about 200 feet before exploding, sending a shower of sparks through the air in all directions. Several people were impressed, and some even suggested I work on my designs for the military. I wanted it to be beautiful, not scary… I’ll work on making my other designs more subtle. Subtlety has far more uses than fear anyway. My new design will look like something small and ordinary, like a cricket.
• 
  4701 AR
• Daddy passed last month. I went to the funeral, probably only my fourth or fifth time home in almost seven years. It feels like a lifetime ago when I was happy there, with the sun on my face. Cateline was nice enough to let me sit next to her, though I was still at the end of the family row. I got back yesterday, only to have a meeting with Bartleby before I could go back to my room. I thanked him for letting me attend the funeral, but he waved off my words, admitting I was family, though it seemed to pain him to do so. Then what he said to me was such I shock I’ve been repeating it over and over in my head since he left.
• “As you know, I have been bequeathed the estate and father’s responsibilities over the county after his heart-attack. As the new steward, there is much that I must get done, but there is one matter I would like to address first… Your attendance at father’s funeral at the Palace of Birdsong was the last time that you will step foot on Lotheed soil. Your presence in our household did nothing but aggravate my dear mother and drove her to an early death. After all that has happened, I am sick of the embarrassment you bring to our family name. You are dead to me, to the entire family, unless in the future you return to the palace with a suitor who would bring value to the Lotheed family; I highly doubt that will happen. I will also no longer allow the estate to squander any resources on you, including your outrageously high allowance. You may finish your schooling since father already paid for it but know that there is nothing else left for you.”
• He turned on his heels and wouldn’t look at me as he walked away. I went to my room crying and told Eutropia everything. She arranged to have Glorianna move into the adjoining room and replace Karina, and she tried to reassure me that it didn’t matter, that home was at the academy now, and that the three of us were as good as family and the only family we needed.
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  4702 AR
• We graduated from Sinora today. Glorianna headed to Absalom for a study-abroad term while I went with Eutropia back to Oppara. She’s going to be the first Grand Princess of Taldor, and I’m going to help her make it happen, but first, she needs to meet with her father.
• - Journal recovered from the Silent Repository; excerpts chosen by Mai Vernisant. Picture of completed "Chatterbox" was found at the end of the journal.

Journal of Anllel Oakleaf
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  30th Desnus, 4718AR
• Adonael finally returned to camp with supplies. The fool bought a goat sick with Ghoul Fever. Where such a simple creature managed to pick up such a disease I have no idea. Something so serious is cause for concern…
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  5th Sarenith, 4718AR
• The Lodge sent an animal messenger allowing me leave to determine where this goat came from and find the source of the ghoul fever. Adonael said he bought the creature from Lotheedar, but he knew the villagers he bought it from lived elsewhere. Bringing a contagious goat to market means that it might have spread its disease to others… It will take me a while to track down the pockets of disease with all these derelict small towns.
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  12th Sarenith, 4718AR
• I received an animal messenger from Adonael this morning… Something terrible happened in Oppara ten days ago. Rumors are that the entire senate was massacred, along with the Emperor. What this means for the Treaty of the Wildwood is unclear…
• I have made a little progress and determined that Lotheedar is clear of this disease. I disguised myself and managed to blend in with civilized life in order to get some directions to peasant farms that often bring their herds to market.
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  20th Sarenith, 4718AR
• Even the land here screams out in pain from the mistreatment the humans have caused. I have found the source of the ghoul fever in an abandoned building near a village called Stachys. However, there is not much I can do to remove the creatures. The trees told me that the peasants graze their animals near the wetland in the spring; perhaps this is how they contracted the fever…
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  3rd Erastus, 4718AR
• I have received multiple messengers from Adonael and Malonarin over the past several days. The emissary from Cassomir did not appear to reaffirm Taldor’s commitment to the treaty. High Strategos Pythareus, along with more than a dozen others, have proclaimed themselves the rightful heirs to the throne, and Pythareus has made demands on Cassomir to force us to increase output on timber and ships. None of this is what we expected when Representative Starborne went to vote in Oppara… The Black Ones have begun breaching the neutral zone with renewed vigor, and some are slipping through their fingers.
• I will return to aid them as soon as I have completed my mission, but it has grown complicated… The arrival of a party of nobles and their large entourage of servants, has renewed activity in Stachys. It doesn’t seem they know the new arrivals well enough to trust them yet, so the people in Stachy’s are twice as cautious and watchful as they were when I arrived. These peasants are superstitious and wary of outsiders; I will have to be careful in my approach to their farms.
• - Journal of Anllel Oakleaf, confiscated as evidence upon arrest by Tribune Onora Piscum. Picture of Suspect upon arrest.

Confession Letter of Jaliessa Stauble
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• I write this now, so I have it on record, in the likely event that this all goes to shit. I’ve been stationed here for almost two decades and the pay has not been worth the work we put in. I was contacted by a halfling on behalf of the “Gray Kingmaker,” and earl who chooses to go by a pseudonym on behalf of his employer, with a deal I thought was good, but I realize was folly. The plan was simple – attack pre-designated caravans dressed as Qadiran Badits. The caravans would be smuggling treasures intended to bribe the aristocracy into putting corrupt politicians into power while subverting strength from the military, and in stopping them, we could keep what we find and soon earn the pay we deserve. Then, we would also be proof of the subversion and banditry of Qadira and help pave the way for increased border security and pay for the Taldan Phalanx and Horse troops serving on the front.
• How foolish I was.
• I should have turned back, but I was quickly captured by the plan. In order to head out here, we needed to become deserters, traitors. The men and women in my command are loyal to me and willing to follow my orders to a point, but that does not mean they would all comply with desertion. I sent those I was sure would not obey on a risky patrol, but I was sure they would be safe. If it wasn’t risky enough, I wouldn’t be able to justify sending so many, but my intent was to get them out of the way before our “disappearance.” This is where the breakdown happened. The entire patrol disappeared, and I couldn’t go back to rescue them, terrible loss, but worse still was when one of my soldiers I thought was loyal, Teren, freaked out and ran, swearing he would turn us in. The men chased him down and killed him, letting him be swallowed by the sand. I would not have accepted this if I knew my men would die.
• All we had to do was hide out in the desert and pretend to be bandits for a few weeks. But our soldiers were trained to use longswords and falcatas, which meant retraining them to use scimitars. Then, just before our first raid group went out, we realized we couldn't very well ride out using the heavy Taldan horses branded with the mark of the Phalanx, we had to buy and steal Qadiran horses. Acquiring them was a pain and a strain on our resources, so we had to get rid of our issued ones. I convinced them to let them go in pairs, one pair a week, so they wouldn’t be traced back to us, but I had to send my sister-in-law out on the drake to kill and eat them – if anyone found them, we’d have too much risk. If my men found out, they’d revolt or try to run back, but as we had already killed one of our own, there was no return for us.
• Finally able to begin the raids, we started hitting the marked caravans, but we didn’t find the treasures we were promised. No bribes, no hidden treasures or contraband, no magical weapons. Occasionally we’d find a trinket or two, but nothing worth the work or risk, mostly just common goods or else they carried spices, silks, and linens, all of which would be easy to trace back to our thievery. We’d never be able to sell them. Some of my men began hitting other caravans, but they haven’t yielded any better, and I have ended those attacks – I’ll not become the bandit I pretend to be.
• Now I fear we will die out here, pawns used and tossed aside in the games of nobles. I can’t let the men know my feelings or fears, lest they break ranks and fall apart. Our only hope is for an opportunity to present itself, but if it does not, I want to leave this as a lasting record that we tried to do right, but the Gray Kingmaker fooled and betrayed us. And if I die here, I die a Taldan Patriot at heart trying to save my men from a traitor’s death. At least I have Anua to keep me company, to the end.
• - Last entry from the journal of Commander Jaliessa Staubel. All other entries are encoded and dated months prior. Picture of the fake-bandits attacking a small group near the Tallgrasses.

Interpretation of Pharasma Communion on Xan
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• Through the swirling lines of souls, I interpret what I see. I see Xan, brought as a pool of essence from his demiplane before a yamarajes judge in Pharasma’s Spiral. He pleads his case for his actions, but fate is not with him. Pharasma granted him freedom to hunt transgressors, and he pursued his task admirably, but in this case it was misplaced. He pleads that other hunters be sent to retrieve the boy, but he is denied. He testifies that he does not seek vengeance but only duty and asks for hunters to collect only the boy within his dreams, but that too is denied. He asks how the boy came to be, and he is told that it is unknown, which is why it must be observed – how can a judged soul return from the great beyond, and for what purpose? The judge concludes that as the boy is unknown to the court and to fate, a new thing never done, the lack of precedence demands inaction. The judge interprets that the boy's fate has already ended, and having no fate, is beyond the reach of the court. Xan asks when he may return to service, and the judge rules that he may return once he recovers his mask and weapon, something that will take very little time on the grand scales, though it may take a few mortal lifespans. Xan asks for an appeal, claiming that the weapon and child may unbalance the scales of fate, and the appeal is filed, though it will take some time to process. Xan is returned to his demiplane to begin the process of reforming while awaiting the appeal.
• - Interpretation of a casting of Commune to determine Pharasma's will. Picture is a drawing made during the casting and later referred for interpretation. The picture shows Psychopomps pulling souls from lines to be judged or for higher court appeals, and the communion shows the same process happening with Xan.

Letter to the Immaculate Circle
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  Esteemed Brothers,
  
  
• The Immaculate Circle shall be victorious. The High Strategos proves quite pliable and receptive to ideas that sate his desperation and ambition in equal measure. The citizens are ready to tear each other apart, and when Pythareus emerges victorious, it will take only the gentlest shove to topple him, and I have secured the ideal prod in my home, under guard of the Sarenites, with the killing blow in the mitts of the grubby King of Filth himself.
• A few complications remain—agents loyal to Pythareus against all reason. They must be dealt with.
• And there are still a few other hindrances on our path to victory. Pythareus’s damnable diviner has blundered into the sisters’ dealings and may soon locate the Sweet Dreams Tea Shop. Now that their research is completed, we should focus our efforts on relocating them to a more secure location. That diviner is too damned esoteric to give anyone her true loyalties, and her second sight makes her near impossible to blackmail. Perhaps it is better to simply let the sisters do as they will.
• My own personal agents in Waterhill have had difficulty in swaying Pythareus’s majordomo, Baron Astor, and now stamp and fume to replace him with one of my own. I feel the scrutiny the High Strategos keeps him under makes this hasty course seem childishly impulsive. We shall bide our time.
• Pythareus’s little cult and its enumerator, Iovinus, have likewise proved intractable. Whoever would imagine an Abadaran would feel himself above a bribe. So be it. The Seven Forms of Sin are eager enough for my coin instead, and have places to stash his corpse. I await only your approval.
  
  
• Immortally loyal,
• Milon Jeroth
• - An unsent letter found on the body of Milon Jeroth

Adella Family Geneological Evidence
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• House Adella’s great patriarch was Marcus Junius Adella, a common soldier who attained the estimable post of legionary high captain during the legendary Shinning Crusade against the Whispering Tyrant. He earned the monicker of "The Iron Medusa" from his men, who reported that a glance from the legionary would turn even the rowdiest or most cowardly soldiers to disciplined stone. In 3758 ar, at the Battle of Istavala Vale, Marcus Junius’s courage and self-sacrifice saved an entire legion, with the Grand Prince’s son among them. Marcus’s posthumous reward was the elevation of his family to the nation’s aristocracy. Before two generations had passed, it was impossible to think of Taldan nobility without including the Adellas. As the family's legacy grew, its members prospered, excelling in the arenas of entertainment, nautical skill, and tactics.
• Unfortunately, this constant striving to enhance the family legacy, combined with the egotism it engendered, led the Adellas down a treacherous path. Within several generations, three distinct branches had emerged among the Adellas — the Sardisi, the Voxus, and the Daellum clans, but as the end drew near, critics commented on what appeared to be a race to self-destruction between them. They increasingly turned to infernal sources for advice and aid, with the leaders of the three clans each believing themselves the betters of the others and the fiends they secretly commanded in a display of hubris that would be repeated some years later in modern Cheliax.
• A cascade of increasingly bad luck and erratic behavior, which soon became known as the Adella Family Curse, tore through these clans in turn. The Sardisi clan was the first to fall. The Sardisis became preoccupied with pleasure and self-indulgence. The last of the clan, Drusus Adella, was known more for the fanatical devotion of his five daughters, who each had been carefully married off to important aristocrats, before placing himself in a self-imposed exile and allowing only his daughters to contact him. Sensing both weakness and opportunity, the daughters' husbands forbade them any contact or correspondence with their disgraced father. Soon after the lonely Drusus committed suicide, opening his veins in the bath of a seedy Absalom brothel, and his five daughters became infamous for murdering their husbands in 4222 and then vanishing from society.
• The Voxus branch was next to fall. Known for their nautical prowess, members of the Voxus clan traced their lineage back to Pasco Adella, admiral of the Taldan Third Fleet during the 42nd century and veteran of over a hundred sea battles, with later generations controlling vast fleets of merchant ships plying the oceans of Golarion. This ended during a literal civil war between twin brothers Vespacio and Vincenzo, who went so far as to field armies against one another in a fratricidal feud that dealt utter ruin to the Voxus branch in a single generation.
• The last surviving branch, the Daellum clan, at first seemed likely to have esceped the cursed and ignominious end of their cousins. The cunning and ruthless Bartolomae Adella led the Daellums as an exemplary and highly successful commander in the Taldan military. Yet after months of grace following their cousins fall, Bartolomae went on to suffer a crushing military defeat on the fractious Qadiran frontier after slaying sacred animals of Aroden during a ceremony seeking direction from the Last Azlanti. Humiliated to the point of blasphemy (although some held that Bartolomae’s blasphemies were nothing new), he fell on his powerful sword Infensus Mucro in contrition, yet even this act was hardly salve enough to atone for the family’s military failure. Indeed, so appalled was Grand Prince Beldam II by the family’s impressive descent into murder, hubris, and blasphemy that he proclaimed the entire family damnatio — their memory was to be wiped from every public record and monument, and all members stripped forever of noble status.
• In the end, only two Adellas survived the shame and fall of the three clans — Bartolomae’s younger brother Cadimus and his beautiful sister Lucretia, the secret mistress to a powerful nobleman named Micheaux. Times were hard upon the last Adellas, and while they tried mightily to atone for their kin’s crimes, fate was not done with the family.
• It was in Lucretia’s illicit affair with Micheaux that the siblings saw a final chance at salvation, for just as the Adella star was crashing and burning, Micheaux’s was on the rise. Micheaux was a general who managed to take an ugly but royal-blooded aristocrat as his wife. Rumors at court held that he was about to be named heir to the Primogen Crown and the new Crown Prince, as the current ruler of Taldor, Beldam II, was both childless and deathly ill. When Lucretia became pregnant, the siblings confronted Micheaux and threatened to go public with the affair unless he took in the son as his own.
• Micheaux initially agreed to the bargain, but then Lucretia died giving birth to her son at the Lion Sleeps Inn in southern Taldor not 1 week before Micheaux gained the Taldan crown. The nobleman took the child, who became named Stavian I and patriarch of the current Stavian family line, and informed Cadimus that if he was still in Taldor by dawn, he would be executed as a traitor, the last treacherous scion of a disgraced family. With no options remaining, Cadimus loaded his sister in a coffin, and with his one remaining servant, fled south.
• Even then, fickle fate had not finished with the family. As they fled east, Cadimus realized that they were being pursued by assassins sent by Micheaux. In desperation, Cadimus called out to Asmodeus for aid—an ill-advised cry for help that resulted in the instantaneous transport of the entire carriage and all its passengers, living and dead, and the Adella's disapeared from history. Meanwhile, Micheaux's wife bore no children after Stavian I, who became grand prince upon his father's death. This Stavian I, father of Stavian II, grandfather of Stavian III, and great-gradfather of Prince Carius and Princess Eutropia, best known as the Scourge of Sarenrae for outlawing the religion in 4528 AR and putting thousands of priests and worshipers to death, was of the damnatio Adella family and an illegitimate son of Micheaux I, who was not of noble blood either but was instead adopted to the throne.
• - Summary of the Adella Family Geneoligical Evidence as notorized, validated, verified, and disseminated by followers of High Strategos Maxillar Pythareus upon his assassination by Princess Eutropia's agents. Painting provided by the Imperial Archives, titled "Soldier's Chase the Last Adella to Hell."

Chief Medical Examiner's Report on Grand Prince Stavian III
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• After the events at the Exaltation Gala a few days prior triggered the contingency, a Breath of Life was administered to the deceased Grand Prince Stavian III, here after referred to as the Grand Prince. The Grand Prince appeared to have a stunned myocardium and continued to remain in critical condition despite the magical treatment restoring his life and sealing the wound.
• Examining the Grand Prince revealed a subcutaneous hematoma had developed around the sword wound that had since closed too-quickly, despite being both lifesaving and necessary. To aid in recovery, the Grand Prince was prescribed a treatment comprising a dossage of peniccilin and a casting of Cure Moderate Wounds and Lesser Restoration every four (4) hours.
• A small inscision was made after roughly thirty (30) hours to drain the hemotoma, which had been putting too much preassure on the heart. The wound was cleaned with purified water rinsing out some metallic particulates that appeared to have been serrating the left ventricle of the heart. The resulting hemorrhage was closed with an application of a Cure Critical Wounds followed by a Restoration.
• The Grand Prince regained conciousness after being incapacitated for roughly fifty-two (52) hours, and remained in a state of partial delirium following physical withdrawls from multiple subtances. We continued the treatment program for the following three (3) days, enduring verbal and physical abuse from the Grand Prince and continuing to deny him any of the substances he requested, with the exception of wine, as the substances would likely exaserbate his condition.
• At this point, he was released to the care of his adopted son, High Strategos Maxillar Pythareus, whose contingency plan preserved the Grand Prince's life. While the High Strategos expected his recovery to be much faster and for him to either be officially nammed heir in front of the Senate on either the Grand Day of Exaltation or the day following, his condition does not appear fit for such a declaration. He has been diagnosed with dementiated psychosis and continues to suffer from muscle spasms, memory loss, fits of uncontrollable rage, withdrawl from several substances, and either turrets or an affinity for foul language.
• While physically recovered, it is my deep regret to pronounce Grand Prince Stavian III medically unfit to resume the capacity of the Crown, and recommend the prompt corronation of the Grand Prince's heir. As our team has remained in isolation during the treatment of the Grand Prince, not knowing the result concerning the Senate's vote regarding the modification of the law regarding Primogeniture, and knowing that some form of violence occured at the senate building causing the Grand Prince to be entrusted into our care and preventing Maxillar Pythareus from being named before the senate, we hope the violence that caused the event was minor, and that the heir may be named by the Senate promptly.
• Signed, Turis Caudilla Laurentz, Cleric of Shelyn and head of the Grand Prince Contingency Healers group.
• - Found upon searching the supply area for the "Reluctant Guest Quarters" at Abadars Pillar. Picture is a sketch of former Grand Prince Stavian III as he was discovered.
• Post Script - The bodies of Turis Caudilla Laurentz and his team were recovered a week after the events of the Exaltation Massacre. It was concluded that they were killed by foreign agents prior to the events at the Exaltation Massacre in order to prevent the Grand Prince from being resuscitated in the event of a contingency event, which did occur when the Grand Prince was stabbed fatally through the heart.

The Iron Medusa Poem
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• Set thee off from Slumbering Cat
• Seeking where the Dead are at
• Journey north and east apace
• To find Medusa’s iron embrace,
• Follow now the Spider Star
• Behind the Wall that hides its Face
• To our Sad, Abandoned Place
• If visit ye the Long Deceased
• Find the Will to Feed the Beast
• Then Begin where all Men End
• Light go out and Breath Suspend
• Egress through the Stony Door
• After turning Face to Floor
• Each Adellan Branch has Room
• In its Silent, Musty Tomb
• For at least one Careless Soul
• Wouldst thou fill that Empty Hole?

Vision's of the Iron Medusa - Chronology
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• Braziers light a general’s command tent. The general himself—a towering man with handsome features, clad in elaborate breastplate armor—stands on the edge of an elegant Qadiran rug. A gaggle of junior officers, priests, and aristocrats stand before the tent flap and an armor mannequin.
• “Well, let’s get it over with,” the general intones haughtily, gesturing to an Arodenite priest carrying a fancy cage containing two fine roosters. The general casts several types of honeyed grain on the ground to the waiting fowl, but to everyone’s chagrin, and the general’s fury, the sacred birds do nothing. After an impossible silence, one of the nobles mutters in an awkward tone, “They… do not eat.”
• To everyone’s horror, the general grabs the sacred animals by their feathered necks, storms over to an elegant bathtub and holds them under the soapy water, hissing, “Then by Aroden’s damned eyes, let them drink!”
• The shocked gathering is paralyzed by the general’s hideous blasphemy. He stands seething at the edge of his tub, the limp, dripping carcasses gripped tightly in either hand, glowering at the witnesses to his monstrous sacrilege. Finally, a junior tribune blurts out, “Brother, I will fetch your warhorse!”
• The general rouses from his rage and drops the ruined birds on the rug, striding to the tent’s entrance.
• “Tribune!” he shouts to the nearest lieutenant, indicating the long map-covered table. “Gather my battle plans! We march on this Qadiran rabble at once!”
• The military tribunes scatter to their duties. When the general attempts to plow past the collection of onlookers at the tent entrance, a red-haired prelate grabs him by his rich cape and speaks in a cold, furious tone:
• “I know not what will happen this day, Bartolomae, but be assured of this: the tree of thy family shall wither and bear fruit no more. This is the last of your blasphemies in Taldor’s name. From this day forward your name will be cursed along with that of your whole arrogant brood!”
• The general shoves the indignant cleric to the ground, and shaking his blade hisses, “You may thank your damnable Aroden that I have other blood to spill today, lackey; otherwise I would take Infensus Mucro and run you through!”
• The general’s tent is now empty. The mannequin lies on its side, the dead birds still heaped on the floor. The brutal cacophony of battle can be heard in the distance. Suddenly, the general bursts through the tent flap, gore-caked sword in hand, face smeared with dirt, blood spattered over his flamboyant breastplate. The military tribune who broke the silence earlier follows him, also splashed with the filth of battle.
• “All is lost, Cadimus,” he pants to the younger man. “Those damned dervishes rolled up my left flank as though it were made of paper!” Cadimus’s silence is his assent.
• The general shakes his sword before his own face, cursing, “You! You have done this to me! All of it! You have murdered us all!”
• He turns to Cadimus, nodding as though finishing a conversation. “‘Sheathe me in my master’s blood’ was the line, no? To put the damned thing back to sleep?”
• Cadimus nods back, still speechless. Staring into space, trancelike, the general whispers hoarsely to him.
• “Do what you can to salvage this, my brother. Beldam would have our heads. Pressure Micheaux to aid us—he will be king before long and we must use what leverage we have. Perhaps you could prevail upon our dear sister to utilize her... relationship, with him? If not... ha! Maybe Asmodeus will assist. I go to face the gods’ wrath. You are the head of our House now, brother. Bury me with sufficient irony.”
• A strange look of calm comes over the general’s face as he gets to his knees at the corner of the rug. He plants the pommel of Infensus Mucro and lifts his armor at the waist, allowing the blade’s point to taste his bare abdomen. With a suddenness that makes Cadimus gasp, Bartolomae springs forward, forcing the blade up into his chest — a torrent of blood splashes out onto the Qadiran rug, the florid stain spreading as he collapses to the ground. A moment later, a vertiginous blackness sweeps everything away.
• A fire burns in the hearth of this well-appointed room. Three men stand about a bed — a handsome man with rolled-up sleeves holding a crying newborn, and two others. In the bed lies a frightfully pale, sweat-drenched woman, her dark hair cascading over damp pillows. Her bedclothes are soaked with blood, and her eyes stare into space; she is not breathing.
• “Just as well,” the handsome man says, a single tear running down a cheek, “with all her ranting about seeing the boy grow up. She knew she could never have been a part of his life.”
• His attention turns to the child he holds. He nods approvingly, wipes the tear from his cheek, then lays three fingers on the squealing infant’s forehead.
• “Stavian,” he croons. “You, too, shall be king in your turn.”
• “Our bargain, Micheaux,” stammers Cadimus, almost absently.
• The other man’s eyes flash with grief, and then fill with anger as he whirls upon Cadimus. When he speaks, his voice is cold and grim.
• “Our ‘bargain’ died with your sister, Cadimus. You are the last of your damned line, and even that is too much. But I shall grant you one last mercy nonetheless — leave Taldor by dawn, and I’ll not send my army after you. The next time I see an Adella face in my empire, it had best be in a grave.”
• He turns with the baby in his arm, walking regally for the door, oblivious to Cadimus’s trembling fury.
• “We go to meet our destiny,” he coos to the squealing infant.
• In the same bedchamber, now oppressively hot, the same woman lies lifeless in the bed, though someone has mercifully closed her eyes. Micheaux and the infant are gone and Cadimus hands a baton to the apron-clad man.
• “Hide this downstairs before we leave, Parsimus. I know you saw it in the bastard’s eyes. He has no intention of honoring even his last promise — he’ll have his thugs on us within the hour. We must seek the only safe place left to us — the Tomb of the Iron Medusa. There we can rest and regroup and make plans for the future. The baton contains the key to finding the tomb — if I die before you, ensure that someone you trust knows where you’ve hidden it. Someday, someone will need to know the truth.”
• He looks over at his sister’s dead body. “And secure a coffin for my sister. I am not going to leave her here. She comes with us.” He turns to face the other man, who still seems frozen in shock.
• “Go, damn you!” Cadimus spits, and finally the other man turns and leaves the room.
• “The Adellas are truly abandoned by Aroden,” Cadimus says with dismal certitude to an empty room. “The gods laugh at us... but perhaps my brother was right after all... perhaps there is one left who might listen...”
• He pauses, a look of dread and determination washing over his countenance. He takes up his dead sister’s hand in his own, holds it to his brow, and then utters a prayer of blasphemy.
• “Asmodeus! Asmodeus, I call on thee! Blood and my everlasting soul if you would but allow me to protect my family and bring my dear sister back to me!”
• A sudden light flickers in air, shimmering as if heated by fire. Then the shimmer grows more substantial, becoming a shapeless mass of tangible evil and immense power. A voice sweet as honey and sharper than any razor emanates from the malevolent presence.
• “A bargain? You would seek to bargain with me, mortal?”
• Later that night, from the view of Cadimus Adella - The carriage hearse barrels along a hard dirt road, drawn by four frothing, maddened horses driven forward by your frantic whipping. A quick glance over your shoulder tells you that your mounted pursuers are gaining ground in the hazy moonlight.
• “Aroden save us!” shouts a beardless old man sitting beside you as he desperately clings to the wooden seat.
• “We no longer serve fools, Parsimus,” you growl with irritation. “Best get that through your thick skull.”
• You glance behind again, this time to the bed of the hearse, where the fine silver coffin lurches dangerously, despite the five straps of stout leather securing it in place.
• “Forgive me, sister,” you think. “It was I who was the true fool.”
• You hear a dull thud as an arrow strikes the seatback. Another arrow sinks into Parsimus’s shoulder, knocking him from his seat to the hard ground below with a cry of pain. As a third projectile thuds into the carriage, you cry out to the starlit sky.
• “Asmodeus! Have you abandoned me?”
• With the cry still in your throat, a strange shimmer surrounds the hearse and the scene about you flickers and fades. The dirt road is suddenly replaced by a paved walkway, and the surrounding woodland by a graveyard. Startled by the sudden change, the horses shriek and careen to the left. As the carriage leaves the road, the shimmering bubble of energy that encompasses it crushes the tombstones in its path. Suddenly, the horses seem to smash into an invisible wall, and their cries of terror abruptly cease. You are propelled from your seat, hurtled through the air as you and the carriage crash to the ground. You feel bones break, and as your neck snaps with a nauseating crunch, you hear a sinister voice behind your ear, whispering with an intimacy that terrifies.
• “No, my puppet. I never forget a bargain.”
• - A recollection of all the vision’s experienced within the Tomb of the Iron Medusa, sorted by assumed chronology. Painting provided by the Imperial Archives, titled "Soldier's Chase the Last Adella to Hell."

Murals in the Tomb of the First Emperor
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• 
  
  
• In the tomb's entrance, weathered murals covered much of the south walls. These images depict Taldaris in four scenes with a motto written below each:
• 1 - Taldaris grips a golden lion by its mane and drives a sword into its throat. The motto reads “What raises us grants us strength.” This image shows Taldaris slaying the beast Grogrisant, a supernatural lion that terrorized the Taldan city-states. According to legend, the Mantle of Kings is woven in part from its mane.
• 2 - Fallen soldiers lie around Taldaris, and he points at a skeletal angel that kneels before him and bears a trio of lilies. The motto reads “All things die, but his kingdom is forever.” In this legend, an angel of death was said to visit Taldaris to claim his life, but the king convinced the angel to give him 90 more years in exchange for three lilies. The flowers have been commonly used in funerals ever since.
• 3 - Taldaris kneels with a hand clasped over his chest as a bearded man resplendent in golden clothing presents a pair of keys atop a folded garment to him. The motto reads “Ordained to rule as a shining example.” This scene depicts the god Abadar appearing to Taldaris and imparting to him the Mantle of Kings and the symbolic right to rule far and wide.
• 4 - Taldaris raises one hand wearing a white gold ring to a crowd as he speaks. Many of the onlookers cheer, but some flee in panic. The motto reads “Truth emboldens the good and conquers the vile.” This scene depicts Taldaris during a famous speech in which his voice miraculously reached an entire city, both rallying his people and compelling spies to throw themselves upon his mercy.
• Later, in the Hall of History, more than a hundred painted scenes paraded along the walls of the room, with a metallic angel timing with a special chandelabra using concave mirrors to explain each scene while the light shines brightly on the picture being presented.
• These images begin by first showing the Azlanti exodus with purple-eyed people fleeing from ruins battered by fire, storms, and tsunamis. These refugees then meet people (a mix of Kellids, Keleshites, and Garundi) with different complexions and outfits, and in some places they fight while in others they exchange gifts. Several panels later, there are only olive-skinned people - the ethnically Taldan descendants of many bloodlines - wearing clothing much like the Azlanti refugees, and these folk dance, farm, build temples, hunt, and war with one another. Along the western wall is an ancient map of the easter city-states that later united to form Taldor, including familiar names like Cassomir, Oppara, and Zimar, as well as unfamiliar names like Iphria, Ralsagad, and Wayondas. Along the northern arc re tableaus of Taldor's earliest days and Taldaris's unification of the city-states, culminating in his throwing several Azlanti relics into a pyre and hoisting a blue-and-green flag - his symbolic abandonment of a lost Azlanti past to unite the Taldan people under a new, vibrant identity.
• Lastly, in a gallery containing speaking paintings of lions, Luccaro and Myrllial, the two lions who raised Taldaris, murals depict many deeds performed by Taldaris: Taldaris being raised by lions, his companions slaying a pair of green dragons and chopping down the towering forest beyond, Taldaris making an offering of a gigantic bull's head to Abadar, the general Ohalia driving a spear through the chest of a regally dressed giant, Taldaris hoisting giant columns to build great buildings, and many more.
• - Descriptions of the Murals within the Tomb of the First Emperor, as described by Martella's investigating agents. Portrait is a dramatic representation of agents protecting history from the malfunctioning angelic robot.

Imperial Augry Vision
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• 
  
  
• The lights dim then fade into darkness, obscuring the tomb. The faint sound of plate armor shifting clacks nearby, followed by a deep voice whispering, “A visitor? I do not know how you are here, but it is not safe. You can do no good here — only attract harm.” As the voice continues, a window seems to open into a dimly lit cell, blurry as if looking through a sleepy eye. Inside, a creature that seems as much machine as human sits on the ground and looks back with steely, featureless eyes. “I cannot give what you seek, only help you escape. Send a message to those who—“ The speaker ceases abruptly, and the window snaps closed, only to reopen as a glaring yellow eye. Its pupil darts about, then more than a dozen similar eyes seem to snap open in all directions.
• A hissing, feminine voice calls out in alarm. “Overseer! Something has slipped through. Meddlers. Schemers. Let us see who intrudes.” A flabby, purple hand with a yellow eye in its palm reaches out of the darkness but falls short before it can grab hold. The speaker cries out in pain, the hand recoils, the eyes grow distant, and different scenes appear briefly as a wind whips up in all directions.
• First the distant eyes briefly rearrange themselves into a starry constellation of a person, but these then slide about like pearls on a dark cloth before being poured into a bag. The bag appears at the belt of a man, featureless but for the spear he carries and the faintly glowing script that covers his body. He gazes down from a rooftop at the machine man from earlier before diving down into a dark pool. The pool’s ripples become the contents of a mug held in a skeleton’s hands as it blows to cool the liquid. A clatter distracts it, and it gazes over to see a four-pointed crown toppled on the ground. As the skeleton crouches down for a closer look, the four points resolve into obelisks in a vast cemetery. The vision’s perspective zooms toward a blank gravestone whose rocky texture fades to parchment that’s folded upon itself several times, sealed with a glob of wax, and slipped through the mail slot in a wooden door. It lands inside a wooden-floored home with the letter’s seal facing up, the wax imprinted with a watchful eye. The machine man stoops to pick it up, idly rubbing the base of his hand where a ring might rest. Then the machine man collapses, a spear in his leg and the tattooed figure visible just inside a nearby room. In a blink, both figures are gone, but at the same time the room feels all the more real.
• - Account of the vision the agents received upon attempting to cast the Imperial Augry ritual. Image is an artist's rendition of the metallic man as seen in the vision.

Assassination Report Intercepted in Lost Silhouette
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• 
  
  
• The single white ring divides into two smaller circles, each of which refines itself into the head and upper body of a distinguishable speaker. The first figure wears a distinctive black hood and mask, obscuring any features that would indicate race, age, and gender. The other figure is a pale, shorthaired half-elven woman with pronounced cheekbones and a circular scar on her chin.
• The half-elven woman’s features harden as she speaks: “Report! This chaos will not last forever, nor will her yapping lapdogs remain quiet much longer. I pray your brotherhood has not failed us again.”
• “So impatient for an immortal,” the masked figure responds. “Your dame lies cold as morning dew, her soul spread to the winds. Shall we kill the child as well?”
• The faces vanish, a reappear a few moments later. “Leave the twilight child to us. He will be too distracted mourning his sister to stop us.”
• The masked figure concludes. “As you wish. I trust the Immaculate Circle will not forget their loyal servants now that Taldor’s throne is in your reach.”
• With that, the images vanish and the circle’s glow fades.
• - Firsthand account of intercepted sending from a member of the Immaculate Circle to a Norgorberite Assassin. Image is a depiction of the woman seen in the vision.

Renown Princes of Taldor

The Biographies of some of the most famous Grand Princes in Taldor's Lengthy History. Each and every one of these rulers are well-known household names, and the specifics of their lives are taught through both public education and popular stories.

Stavian I - The Bounty Prince
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  Born 5 Lamashtan 4497 AR;
• Coronated 28 Rova 4526 AR;
• Perished 1 Abadius 4588 AR;
• Grand Prince Stavian I, Firstborn of Micheaux, First of His Name, was born during the harvest season, and for many years he was called the Bounty Prince by citizens of Taldor, who understandably took great joy in the birth of Micheaux the Magnificent’s son and heir. Stavian inherited his father’s intense eyes, and between his comely features and his life of vigorous exercise, he is remembered as a handsome young man who was very popular in Opparan social circles.
• Following Micheaux the Magnificent’s sudden death in 4526, Stavian I and his five younger brothers fell into bitter squabbling. A Sarenite soothsayer had declared one of the six brothers a bastard, not descended of imperial blood—a bold claim given Grand Prince Micheaux’s own adoption into the line of succession rather than blood descent. After a summer of unprecedented violence, Stavian calmed his brothers, demonstrating the nobility and leadership that mandated his princely blood, and ascended to the throne at the end of Rova, once again demonstrating his bountiful relationship with Taldor’s fortunes and harvests.
• Grand Prince Stavian I revitalized the Grand Campaign. Recognizing the soothsayer who instigated his family’s infighting for the traitor he was, he declared all who proselytize on behalf of Sarenrae to be enemies of the state, invested only in lies and sedition. The Great Burning of Witches—now known as the Great Purge— saw treasonous foreign agents driven from Taldor’s borders; despite its sobriquet, the Purge involved few pyres, ultimately burning fewer than 100 Sarenites.
• Despite his marriage to the Countess Sutepa Mavrosenus in 4528, Grand Prince Stavian I remained a popular fixture in noble circles, and maintained 18 concubines of various genders to appease the sudden shifts of humor to which he grew prone in later years. He fathered a total of 12 children, and he was succeeded by his oft-overlooked third son, Dominus II, after the death of his eldest son, Gosse, and exile of his second son, Manderval.
• - Official state biography and portrait.

Beldam I - The Jovial Peacemaker
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  Born 28 Kuthona 4429 AR;
• Coronated 28 Gozran 4477 AR;
• Perished 12 Calistril 4098 AR;
• Born Ersazus Beldam, Grand Prince Beldam I came from humble roots as a mere earl and rose to the throne with the assistance of the Ballingar Accord, the same patriotic circle of nobles who exposed the treacherous Qadiran agents who poisoned the troubled Red Prince Cydonus III. In the aftermath of the extreme deficit left by Cydonus’s unorthodox building projects, the Ballingar Accord and the senate selected Beldam I for the throne because of his reputation for fiscal responsibility, and his thriftiness left him much beloved by the people, who were happy to contribute more in support of their new emperor and their suffering empire.
• Red Prince Cydonus III. In the aftermath of the extreme deficit left by Cydonus’s unorthodox building projects, the Ballingar Accord and the senate selected Beldam I for the throne because of his reputation for fiscal responsibility, and his thriftiness left him much beloved by the people, who were happy to contribute more in support of their new emperor and their suffering empire.
• Grand Prince Beldam I spent most of his life deeply concerned that Qadiran agents would poison him, just as they did his predecessor, and so he employed more food tasters than any other emperor in Taldor’s history. Despite this worry and his reputation as a coin counter, Grand Prince Beldam I is also fondly remembered by some for his delightful if esoteric sense of humor. He appointed a horse, Katalon, as a senator in what most historians agree was a quiet critique, implying the governing body of the time lacked “horse sense.” On other occasions, he would hide in the palace curtains and leap out to surprise guests.
• Grand Prince Beldam I’s sense of humor was not shared by his young wife, Grand Prince Cydonus III’s granddaughter Wynalia, and the emperor died when his startled wife struck him with a marble bust bearing the emperor’s own likeness.
• - Official state biography and portrait.

Taldaris of Oppara - The First Emperor
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  Born 1 Aradius -1312 AR;
• Coronated 13 Rova -1295 AR;
• Perished 31 Kuthona -1144 AR;
• Much ado has been made over the life and accomplishments of our founder, the glorious First Emperor Taldaris of Oppara, who bound together frightened city-states into an indomitable empire. Legends, parables, and rumors of his heroic feats abound, and as Grand Prince Taldaris was an honorable man, we can only assume they are all true. Taldor would not exist without the courage, integrity, and tactical genius of this extraordinary man, and so the least debt historians can reasonably owe him is benefit of the doubt on those stories surrounding and supporting his glory.
• Taldaris’s parentage remains unknown, but it is almost certainly divine. As a foundling raised by lions, Taldaris grew up to be a strong and savage survivor. Accounts suggest he beheaded a cockatrice that threatened his pride while he was still in swaddling clothes; this astonishing feat set the stage for a life of great deeds. When soldiers from the citystate of Oppara found the wild boy, they adopted him into their unit and taught him of politics and metalwork. Such was his ferocity and insight that he had risen to the rank of commander by the time the soldiers returned to Oppara.
• Taldaris completed 12 great challenges on behalf of his adopted city—including hunting the deadly Sun Lion, the grogrisant—and was crowned Grand Prince of Oppara. From this seat of power, he united the Azlanti citystates lining the eastern shores of the Inner Sea to form the Principalities of Taldaris. In the process he claimed seven wives and four husbands, from whom he sired the first noble lines of Taldor, including— naturally—the resplendent Stavian line, which traces its ancestry directly back to our singular founder.
• Grand Prince Taldaris lived to a venerable age, in an era long before the grand princes of Taldor routinely extended their lives by means of the wondrous sun orchid elixir, further pointing toward a potentially divine heritage. He passed away only after saving the people of Golsifar from the terrible dragon Verksaris the Kingeater, from whose gullet he pulled the gold used to forge the Primogen Crown, finally succumbing to the beast’s legendary venom after 3 days.
• - Official state biography and portrait.

Cyricas - The Leaping Lion
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  Born 29 Calistril 2048 AR;
• Coronated 13 Rova 2087 AR;
• Slain 8 Arodus 2098 AR;
• Born on the 29th day of Calistril—a day that comes but once every 8 years—the Leaping Lion was predestined for a greatness born of exceptionalism. As a child, the noble-born Cyricas suffered from a debilitating illness that mystified even the most skilled healers of the land, each summoned by his mother, a prominent senator, who used her influence to gain their services. Cyricas spent much of his childhood in bed, reading about the great rulers of Taldor and dreaming about one day joining their ranks. On his eighth birthday, Cyricas leapt from his sickbed, proclaimed himself well, and embarked on a life of adventure—as all Taldans are told on their own eighth birthdays.
• Cyricas spent much of his young adulthood traveling, taking special interest in the natural world. His love of hunting in particular eventually led him to the heavy jungle interior of Garund. There, his guides had chained a mighty gorilla, offering it as a trophy. Cyricas was horrified, releasing the beast and chastising his well-meaning hosts for debasing a free creature. Though Cyricas left the ape behind, it followed him for 8 days and nights, until the great adventurer accepted his new companion and named him Mardu.
• Back in Taldor and approaching middle age, Cyricas held court with all manner of Taldans, from senators to commoners. He spoke to thousands in a series of popular public lectures, regaling them with tales of adventure and calling on all Taldans to overcome their circumstances and achieve greatness.
• Upon the death of his father (may his corrupt and vile name remain ever struck from the record), Cyricas won approval for corronation over his elder brother, his will and abundant allies making him a stronger candidate to lead Taldor into a new era. The Leaping Lion could not be contained, however, and no sooner was he crowned—on the same day of the year as Taldaris himself—than he made plans to join the Sixth Army of Exploration in northern Garund. Countless often-contradictory tales tell of Cyricas’s many great deeds in the 2 short years that followed, but the accounts agree that at the end, the mighty Leaping Lion fell in glorious battle with the vicious Gorilla King, fighting alongside his people.
• - Official state biography and portrait.

Gennaris III - The Conqueror King
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  Born 21 Arodus 4279 AR;
• Coronated 6 Lamashan 4322 AR;
• Martyred 12 5 Lamashan 4328 AR;
• Surging refrains of victory are bittersweet when accompanied by tears over a hero taken from Taldor much too soon. Grand Prince Gennaris III was a shining light dimmed before his time, the fire of his valor quenched by Qadiran treachery.
• During Gennaris’s day, Qadiran forces had occupied Taldan soil for 2 centuries. At the head of the Taldan Phalanx, High Strategos Gennaris looked southward with his steady gaze and said, “No longer.” Gennaris led his troops to victory after victory, pushing Qadiran forces farther south and reclaiming Taldan lands from the invaders. Soon known as the Conqueror to his soldiers and enemies alike, Gennaris fought to the Jalrune River.
• Meanwhile, tragedy struck in the north. Gennaris’s two older brothers died suddenly. Gennaris left his campaign on the southern border and returned to Oppara to wear the Primogen Crown, but courtly living did not suit him. Within 2 years, Gennaris returned to the front lines, once again defending Taldan lands against aggressors. Gennaris’s field musicians composed the rousing “Hail Our Conqueror King” to celebrate his return to the front, and the song rightfully remains a staple for military marches today.
• With Taldor’s heart as well as its arms at his command, Gennaris planned the daring Heaven’s Step Offensive to invade Qadira itself. In a series of brilliantly planned maneuvers on the Plains of Paresh, Grand Prince Gennaris outwitted six Qadiran generals. He faced all six in personal combat, defeating each and taking their swords as trophies of his cunning and prowess.
• The Qadiran forces broke, opening up vast swaths of Qadiran land to Taldan control. Gracious in victory, Gennaris refused to allow his troops to overrun and slaughter their fleeing foes. This benevolence was his undoing, for the delay allowed the Empire of Kelesh to reinforce the flagging Qadiran forces. Knowing the Qadirans held little chance against the fabled Conqueror in battle, Keleshite emissaries counseled the Qadirans to ambush the emperor. Grand Prince Gennaris was slain on a predawn ride to assess his troops, leaving Taldor poorer by one champion but richer one martyr.
• - Official state biography and portrait.

Daronlyr XII - The Legendary Usurper
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  Born 2 Neth 3535 AR;
• Coronated 19 Erastus 3564 AR;
• Perished 28 Calistril 3587 AR;
• Much hay has rightfully been made over the command and presence of many a grand prince, but few compare to the legendary usurper and savior Grand Prince Daronlyr XII. Like many of Taldor’s greatest leaders, Daronlyr was not born to greatness, but instead seized it. Gifted with legendary command—command over others, command over the blade, command over magic, and, perhaps most importantly, command over himself—Daronlyr was born the only son of Grand Prince Parmain III’s younger brother, Isidoron. When the throne passed to his indolent cousin, Parmain IV—cursed be his name—Daronlyr led Taldor in his own way as a loyal senator and prominent civic leader who labored tirelessly to ease the worst excesses and foreign appeasements of Parmain IV’s rule. When, in a private audience with the grand prince, Daronlyr learned his cousin was plotting to undermine imperial unity by ceding Taldan land in Isger to Kellid rebels, he found he could stomach no more and drew his blade.
• The dutiful Ulfen Guard leaped to the defense of their emperor, but Daronlyr’s skill and focus turned their blows aside, and his blade found succor in Parmain IV’s heart. He seized the Primogen Crown and declared himself emperor, and the Ulfen Guard ceased their attack and bowed before him. Many repeat this parable as a demonstration of the Ulfen Guard’s loyalty to the position of emperor, rather than to any individual who holds that title, but surely all historians of merit can agree that such a feat would never have transpired for a less gifted orator than Daronlyr.
• Following his swift coronation, Grand Prince Daronlyr XII proceeded to secure Taldor’s borders and renew the empire’s efforts to pacify the upstart Kellids to the west. Perhaps the best-remembered part of his legacy, however, was the founding of several long-standing arcane organizations throughout Taldor, including the First Imperial Arcanists’ Guild in 3571 ar and Oppara’s famed Kitharodian Academy in 3578 ar.
• Grand Prince Daronlyr XII fell not to conspiracy or violence but to an outbreak of the Blanching Sickness that gripped western Taldor in late 3587 ar, proving that despite Daronlyr’s mastery of so many skills, Pharasma herself knows no mercy or admiration for even the best among the living.
• - Official state biography and portrait.