The Serpent stood before the angry spider, the other two captains, and the Emperor. Knowing that he would have to peel away at this hangman's web one piece at a time, he started with the most obvious weak links and slither his way up from there.
"The use of external forces from outside the empire, is ill omen to our people and the other surrounding nations. It will continue to ruin our reputation as a nation that cannot even finish their own problems. This war has already tarnished our image as the greatest, and our people have barely regained their pride.
Arkann barely reacted from Adder's words, barely nodding as he wrote down plans on how to deal with this ill tempered serpent. But Adder watched as the room shifted slowly to his favor and he would use that to its fullest.
The Serpent King turned his ire to the use of plagues in this doomed campaign. His hands refused to touch the cursed scroll's canvas.
"Pleague warfare, do I need to explain this. I am sharing a room with the Empire's greatest minds. This is below us, plain and simple. This lowly and pathetic way of war is unworthy of us in every way shape and form."
Adder threw those disgusting scrolls away before pulling the documents pertaining to the cursed relics, his judgement showing him the damnation it would bring if unleashed upon this land. His visions played before him showing discord and destruction, as he spoke.
"Pitch Blades, twenty five in total. Those who would be shouldering them are prisoners of war, and sympathisers for the council, an incredible decision."
The serpent spoke in irony so thick one would mistake it for venom. Pitch Blades were ancient and terrible weapons, forged in purposely lost foul techniques. Though like many purposely forgotten things, the knowledge of their dangers and horrid repercussions for using such power was also lost. It had happened countless times, many finding a relic of great power. Only to destroy themselves and everything they loved to the unknown corruption that hid in plain sight.
Pitch Blades were horrid weapons that granted monstrous strength and endless stamina. But at the cost of forcing upon its wielder an endless hunger for bloodshed, and would crumble the greatest of wills to see itself fed. These weapons were feared by the superstitious, with many believing that those horrid weapons were calamitous "gifts" from humanity's first traitor.
A fact that the utilitarian and arrogant Arkann could easily brush it off as zealots being zealots, who were to stupid to properly use the weapon. A fact Adder sadly knew the other captains and the Emperor himself somewhat agreed with.
"You wish to empower angry prisoners with wounded pride, weapons of endless destruction and the most important positions. Truly your decision making has worsened with age."
Arkann, angry and indignant. Pulled out two more scrolls before making his counter.
"Those who would fight would be promised freedom, with those with obvious taint would obviously be expunged. The tools either put to a better vessel or contained until needed once more."
The Serpent Scoffed. His tone gained a sharp hiss as he continued his explanation.
"You speak as if this corruption can be contained, that all this will cost is a few worthless traitors. You are incredibly mistaken. These weapons taint everything around it, not just its wielder. The land that they are carried through grows rancid and stagnant, the beasts that live after feeling that tainted blade spread that corruption wherever they go. And that's not even the worst of it, for the greatest punishment are those who fought beside those who wielded those black blades.
The Serpent King's voice rose as he made his warning crystal clear.
"The cursed objects would leave a taint upon the survivor's minds, bodies, and souls. One where their emotions and their feelings would be stifled, their wills compromised, and their morals quickly surrendered."
Adder said gravely, his voice growing more and more unsteady as his judgement continued to show him the endless way the empire could meet its end.
"With that taint would come superstition, which would fuel discrimination, that discrimination would only strengthen the taint and weaken the spirit of those survivors. Which would inevitably lead to a worse situation that we are in now, in less than twenty years."
Adder rose from his chair, as he foretold the Empire's destruction. The Serpent King brought to mind a preacher who spoke of an upcoming doomsday.
Those who fully are consumed by corruption become little less than beasts with endless hunger. Terrorising those who are haunted by endless nightmares, and further causing discord with the quickly withering lands. Nalice would rot from the inside out, Kalynn becoming the seed of this very corruption. Warbands would wander the shattered stone foundations that once was the first empire and would despair in their ignorance of what their nation once was."
Arkann audibly laughed at this serpent's performance. The old man continued to laugh as he gestured to the volatile serpent, caught up in what ifs and superstition.
"And your proof for any of this? I hate to stifle your vast imagination, but what does this old fashioned paranoia have to do with anything containing the ways of Nalice."
Nalice the First Empire, was a nation that cared little for religion. Founded by those who saw nothing in Sardall's words, and wished to be free from any "Divine will" or "Destiny" that any so-called god had for them.
That gave the empire its second best well known name, The Godless Kingdom. With its most infamous of their doctrine that any of the scions of the many noble families were to awaken holy power. They were known as Apostates, and would have to leave the empire, or succeed from their noble blood.
This was the reason that Adder had hid his Divine Power, Nalice had no need for gods and the zealotry their followers created. So the Herald of Judgement had no power and would never be in the bounds of the empire. So instead of divine visions, Adder spoke of places of the past.
"Proctyr, the Isle of Cwo, the city states of Mayers, the dukedom of Woe…"
Adder clenched his fist as he watched both the successes and the failures of his attempt to stop this. Stuck between visions of his potential success and his failure he spoke the name of the damned village, Nalice's dark and lost history.
"The City of Dunwell."
The energy of the chamber immediately froze over, The Emperor leaned over the table with his eyes locked on Adder as would a hawk finding a snake. While the three captains refused to make a word, All three Shocked that a son of the Empire would ever be bold or foolish enough utter that place's name, the one shame of the first empire.
The first shame of Nalice, the drowned city, one whose name was ripped from all public historical records and name forever held in infamy. Whose reason for corruption was unknown and highly contested. For Adder to say its name and then claim that he knew the reason for its madness that destroyed it in front of the Emperor himself. This alone was an act of treason that bordered on heresy.
But the Serpent stood while the emperor looked on in fury, and finished his final gambit. His words were clear without any room for misunderstanding.
"The Imperial historians, they will prove me right!"
The Imperial Historians were and would always be a powerful faction within the empire. And for Adder to demand their presence over such a thing as this, even the fact that he was a True Warden would not protect him if his warnings were unfounded.
The Emperor only snorted as he rose from his chair and strode towards the Serpent King, before he grabbed Adder's shoulder and slowly brought Adder to his seat before leaving the chamber. All in that chamber knew that if the Emperor found that Adder's explanation was in any way lacking. The Serpent King would be faced with a quick execution, something that Adder happily accepted.
…
The Imperial Archive was as old as the Empire itself, located in the depths of the Imperial palace, and filled floor to ceiling with records, tomes and scrolls. Those who had taken up as custodians of the Empire's noble history, were of great social and political importance.
With many noble families trying their hardest to get even one family member into the ancient halls of the archive. For as the old adage goes knowledge is power, and with the First Empire's long storied history. One wouldn't have to dig far to find empire shaking information, what could turn a family of paupers into the richest family of the empire.
At times they held more sway than even the emperor, especially one who had not sat on the throne for less than thirty years. The one who took on the burden of the History of Dunwell, was an Elizabenn Cronn. A woman who seemed older than time itself, who was famous for her eccentric personality and having the longest tenure amongst the other historians. Having been an historian even before the reign of Vermus himself.
She had been told of what had transpired, along with the Serpent King's warnings, and that he had demanded the Imperial Historian's hand to stop Arkann's horrid proposal. But as she heard of The Serpent's mad warnings, she opened her notes and started to write what she was hearing.
When the Emperor, who thought Elizabenn had more important things to do then listen to another "theory", finished his account and asked her council about his warnings and if any of this had anything to do with the drowning of Dunwell.
The old woman pulled out old and tattered scrolls and started to compare the notes and records that she had documented over and over for the past one hundred years of her life. Connections formed and centuries old questions finally answered. And after all this time and the mystery she had based her life around finally solved, she could only say two words.
"He's right."
Emperor Douglas' eyes widened at the old historian's short explanation. He had known first hand how Elizabenn reacted to any who was foolish enough to claim they and they alone knew the reason for Dunwell's destruction.
The old woman pulled out old and tattered scrolls and spoke about the many connections and revelations she had made during the Emperor's retelling of Adder's warnings. And much to the shock of both of them, the surviving records are now given the newfound context. Told the exact same cautionary tale of the Serpent King.
…
It started with the opening of the Forges of Carcosa, an Empire run weapon and metallurgy forge meant to grant the empire a surplus of materials, weapons, and jobs for those born of low status.
This palace-sized forge granted immediate growth to the historic town's population, Dunwell quickly becoming the second largest town of the empire just behind Kalynn herself. But then the order for the forge to research the history and abilities of the Pitch Blades.
A trial that the Forge masters and the researchers took on with ambitious gusto, not knowing that it would damn them and Dunwell with it. As any of these tragedies, the corruption hid from the keen and the quick. Fire keepers, day laborers, and ash sweepers complained of hunger and lethargy, which devolved into fugue states and soon disappeared over the first five years into their dark study.
Of course all of this was easily dismissed as lazy workers, with those people simply left for a more simple place of work. Then reports of nightmares that haunted many of the children of Dunwell when they slumbered, doctors confusion fueling the fearful populace.
Yet even with the compounding issues, the city kept their growing disorder quiet and out of view from the Capital City's eye. Not wanting to lose all their growth and momentum due to those hysterical people of low birth. Sleep balms meant to alleviate this problem were mass produced and given freely to the people.
Called Merciful Shade, these tear-shaped capsules gave those who took it, a peaceful and calming effect. This drug quickly became popular among the entirety of Dunwell's less well to do population, who used this not just for their children but for themselves.
This remedy quickly became a tool used by those in power to silence those who were and started to suffer from the spreading corruption. And then came the monsters, creatures transformed from people to finally fully succumbed to the corruption.
Recovered medical journals reported them as gaunt, pale, and mindless, only focused on one thing, eating. Pandemonium ensued, one that could not be silenced through drugs and needed to be stopped in a more violent and permanent manner.
This was the beginning of the end for Dunwell, those who stood on top of the prosperous city. The noble families and the top workers and researchers of the forges, who prided themselves of being so cautious and who so pridefully claimed control over the corruption. Finally fell, it was barely a decade since they started their ill pursuit of the power of those cursed weapons. When the empire sent people to investigate after the complete collapse of communication between Kalynn and the prosperous city.
Only to find a ruined city filled with monsters and madmen, with nothing left to do but to erase their mistake. Having the Lorrash family, the empire's premiere mage family to drown the city. Using a grand level spell to wash away the abandoned town, akin to cutting off a necrotic limb.
…
The Emperor leaned back as he watched Elizabenn fanatically connect the dots with the last of the surviving documentation. The crumbling of Dunwell had happened because of the Pitch Blades, and the way it crumbled happened exactly as he said it would.
Adder had even spoken of what happened in the very same order, the main question now was how he knew?
The records that spoke of any of the history of Dunwell was under the complete control of the Imperial historians. So how could the sole member of an almost forgotten family, could learn of any of it. Only created more questions, that the Emperor would have little chance of receiving answers.
It is then that the old woman finished organizing her many discoveries, before she remembered the existence of the Emperor. The old woman revealed a cold and cunning smile before she spoke.
"Who was the boy? The one who made this illuminating and grave tale? He seems to be an excellent source for information."
The Emperor suddenly felt terrible for the Serpent King, but he knew better than anyone that nothing could stop a historian who wanted answers.