Background

[Dizlexus]

Verex The Good King

The Good King Verex Capitis had broken away from tradition. He questioned the “divine right of kings”.

A youth spent examining the works of the worldly philosophers made the king a complicated and thoughtful man.

In 1394, Verex ascended to the throne after the death of his elderly father. The new king dissolved his father’s governing bodies and fired all of his advisors.

Verex introduced a new set of ideas: That a people should be governed by their own consent; that every person is free; and that a good king could only discern “good” through a lifetime dedication to philosophy.

In those days, the kingdom Verex inherited was comprised of three cities but it soon grew. Verex asked the people to elect a parliament and he worked with the body to make decisions for the kingdom - - decisions which most benefited the people.

The land of Tessera was consolidated into the kingdom of Tessera in only 2 years. People everywhere began to dispose their greedy and ineffective rulers. Cities joined the kingdom willingly and sent their elected to the capital city (Occubo). War was a thing of the past. All the cities and towns thrived. Conflict with the Teutonic tribes was at an all time low and there had been no conflict with The East. Things went well.

Verex’s wife bore him a daughter in 1398. She was named Regenia Vera Capitis. As the 1st born to the Capitis family she would be next in line for the throne.

Verex, however, did not believe that one’s station at birth determined one’s fitness to rule. Verex would have Regenia study the worldly philosophers and more. She developed a passion for history, languages and alchemy. Her education and beauty were points of tremendous pride to the king. She would be a glorious queen once Verex’s life expired.

In 1400, Verex’s wife bore him a son. He was named “Merit” - - a hopeful name given by the king.

Merit’s education was military and a fine soldier he did become. Verex believed his daughter and son would one day cooperate to rule - - she the diplomat and philosopher, he the general and provider of security. It was not to be. The king failed to keep an eye on Merit while Merit was eying power.

Death of Verex, Birth of Chaos
It was the year of the bear, 1426, when Verex died suddenly without a preceding illness. The cause of his death remains a mystery.

Queen Uxora, the mother of Merit and Regenia, had no desire to rule and abdicated the throne. Moreover, Regenia was more than 20 years groomed for leadership.

Many believe Merit poisoned the king as part of a power grab. And grab power Merit did indeed - - starting on the night of Regenia’s coronation. It was a lovely ritual held in the northwestern city Cicur.

Immediately after Regenia’s coronation it was learned that 3 members of parliament were assassinated. The slain were from wealthy costal cities. A few hours later a timorous messenger approached the Queen and delivered a message from her brother. The message read: I have taken the cities of Occubo (now Meritopolis), Maria, and Narconia . I’ll capture more tomorrow and more thereafter. Surrender the throne or die, dear sister. A woman is not fit to rule. I will be king.
Sincerely, your only brother,
Merit

Occubo falls 1st. Then many others.

Two Thirds in Two Months
How Merit manipulated the military leadership and where he found allies is a mystery. But it took Merit only 2 months to take over two thirds of Tessera. Of the kingdom’s four generals three defected, cities fought cities and brothers fought brothers. Chaos tore the kingdom asunder. Factions evolved. Thousands of people died violent deaths. Mysterious figures from the Orient were seen frequenting Merit’s court and fighting in his ranks. A mysterious influx of wealth corresponded with these events. Merit’s effort appears well funded.

Now relations with the Teutonic tribes have decayed. Merit is openly hostile to the Teutons and dispatches Tesserians into Teutonic territory to exploit resources. Tesserian military detachments currently clear cut the forest and establish mines for copper, tin and iron.

Merit continues to consolidate power and is likely to have the queen in his clutches in a matter of weeks, perhaps days.

Regenia is held up in a keep at Cicur, and has hatched a desperate plan to restore the kingdom. But she needs your help.


A civil was rages.
Merit

Regenia

[Dizlexus]

The Teutonic Tribes of Tessera
Long before the reign of the Good King Verex, the Teutonic tribes did war with the civilized people of the foothills and valleys.

The civilized folk made frequent incursions into Teutonic lands for natural resources. Four resources could only be found in the mountains: copper; tin; timber; and iron. The exploitation of their land was casus belli for the Teutons. The civilized people were in a difficult situation. Their ancestors exhausted those resources in the low lands long ago.

The Teutons resented the civilized quest for metals so deeply that they had long ago banned the use of metals amongst themselves. They now believe that metal weapons are bad magic. These barbarians will use weapons of only wood and stone. Some of these weapons, it is said, are more lethal than their metal counterparts. These weapons are knapped from a vain of brilliant red and black obsidian. No civilized person knows where this quarry is located. That the quarry exists is proven by the quantity of such weapons circulating.

King Verex had solved the Teutonic problem with imports and mutually beneficial arrangements. But all of Verex’s work dissolved when Merit made his attempt to usurp the throne.

A major portion of Merit's military resources are being employed to secure new mining locations.

A new war between the barbarians and the civilized is brewing. The Teutons have begun to refuse the civilized access to the mountains and the forests. They have enlisted the help of a mad Druid to keep the civilized out.

[Dizlexus]

The Fortress of Horace Woo
The fortress is deep in the eastern mountains situated at about 12,000 ft. No one knows who exactly Horace Woo was or what he was doing up there. Many believe he never existed. Some say he was a powerful sorcerer, others say he was a rich eclectic. Some believe that Woo came from a different planet or dimension. It is also rumored that he was born in the kingdom, in the costal City Narconia, and was raised in the East. Some people believe he became wealthy and powerful in the Orient, was planning a takeover of his homeland, and that the mountain fortress was a base of operations. The Orientals did make coastal incursions in those days. It did appear that a war with the East was on the horizon. It never materialized. That was back in the 1250’s - - about 175 years ago.

Some demi-humans alive in those days are still around to describe odd things pertaining to the fortress.

The rumors are strange. An elf Woman living in the Coffin Woods known as Jewel was alive then and tells strange stories. She has often described a metallic bird that roared and spit fire. She knows what a dragon is and it was not one of those, she will swear.

She has also described men in strange cloths who would magically appear and disappear around the fortress area. Those men had metallic rods. Those rods spit fire too.

Jewel still lives up there with her sons. Her family builds coffins for the Teutons.

Others tell of colossal stone colored ships, appearing and disappearing like apparitions, in Tessera's ports and bays -- also in the time of Horace Woo. Recently those apparitions have been seen again.

Whenever something odd happens it is blamed on Horace Woo. He is a one man "illuminati" to Tesserans.