Re: The General in the Dark
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:17 pm
//LOL. I appreciate the feedback guys, but...stop poluting my IC thread with your creepy Jonas perversions! 
Ahhh Aikura...you're so sexyGeneral in the Dark wrote:In the heart of Baldur’s Gate, the victorious General sits at an ordinary table. There are no maps in sight, or ornaments or figurines, or any manner of miniature armies. The quasi-military paraphernalia that had accumulated these many months has all but vanished. The room is just a room, and the table is just a table. The only evidence here that there had been a war at all was a battlefield souvenir; a single, golden helm sitting atop the desk.
Bloodied and wearied, but contentedly quiet, the General reclines in her chair, gazing absently at the door. She reflects on the long, dark path she walked to this point. It was almost a year since she had cast the first stone. Before any borders were crossed, or bridges destroyed, or ships sunk, or towns massacred, she and her ilk went to Markhold and spilled Amnian blood. And though the conspirators who sought her throne had been thoroughly rebuked, it had only been a matter of time until the wolves were at the Gate once more. Indeed, as political tensions built, it had often occurred to her that the interests seeking her removal were sufficiently powerful to possibly be the drivers of this entire war.
Even if not, the war would inevitably serve as a vehicle for their agenda. The shadow veil of the grander conspiracy still hung low, but irrespective of whether or not that mystery could be dispelled, Amn had to be stopped, definitively.
The wearied General closes the file sitting on the desk in front of her, the silver lettering of the title, “Night Takes Rook”, stark on its cover. War was bad for business, but the closer it came, the more devastating to her interests. Her empire could not survive an Amnian occupation, so her campaign had one objective: Locate the battlefield as far from Baldur’s Gate as possible. In harmony with Duke Eltan, she had drawn the line through Beregost and—just like him—she sent others to die for her throne. It was callous manipulation.
Or at least, it should have been. While factions rallied to her agenda, Night Takes Rook stirred her slowly. The truth was, she felt something for the city that had not always been kind to her, but had always been a part of her. It was the only place she felt at home, and to that extent—the only extent that mattered—she was Baldurian. The Gate had five rulers, no matter what the other four thought. So she would fight, and fight hard, to protect all that she had come to love.
The General in the Dark would fight for Baldur’s Gate. The Duchess of Shadow would fight for her throne. Silver would fight for pride and hate.
Aikura would fight for love alone.
. Well done!! The General has been a fantastic idea, and kept me looking for posts all the way through this plot development.