History of Cyprus Long ago, when Cyprus was whole, there sat a noble king who reigned from

the capital city of Nicosia. It is said that the trees and rivers still whisper his name Argamus. The king, and all his ancestral line made sure to intermarry between the three races, human, orc, and elf, to promote unity amongst the people. This worked for centuries, but the interracial marriage practice never caught on and twelve years of famine and drought brought racial conflicts to an all-time high. Now king Argamus had three trusted advisors, as every king did. This select group was called the Council of the Three Lords. Every king inherited his fathers Lords, but could choose to elect new ones of his own. Argamus chose to keep his fathers orcish Lord, Jal DekRunn, but chose two childhood companions as his other Lords; Rory OHale the human and Licia Parre the elf. He ascended to the throne at the age of 25 when his father died of the fever. He had lived a full life, and the time was ripe for a new king. Argamus had only been king for a few short years when the first incident occurred. There was a brawl at the Blue Barrel. This struck the kings attention because he knew this to be the secret meeting location of the Council of the Three Lords, so he asked his advisors what had really happened. As the story goes, Jal DekRunn felt out of place in this new Council of the Three Lords, being significantly older than the other two members. Not only that, but his advice began to be ignored in favor of newer more modern ways of thinking. This didnt sway him because he had an unwavering love for his king. At that nights Council Meeting, Jal brought up the fact that the famine and drought didnt seem to be going away, and that the Council wasnt taking enough precautionary measures to insure there would be enough food to feed the kingdom. Rory OHale was already on his third pint and didnt take kindly to no stinking orc telling him his ideas werent working. Licia Parre sipped her tea quietly and began to harbor a resentment for orcs, having always thought they were trouble-makers and only got in the way of progress. Jal told Rory he needed to relax and that it was just a suggestion, but Rory got up and grabbed his axe and told Jal Ill be takin no more suggestions from the likes of you at which point he drunkenly threw his axe, missing Jal completely, but shattering the legs on the chair of another bar patron. That bar patron just so happened to be a newly wedded orc, his entire wedding party sitting around the table, and didnt appreciate being attacked and knocked down. At this point, the entire bar erupted as a group of 15 huge orcs grabbed the comparatively small Rory and beat him to a bloody pulp with bar mugs, stools, and fists. Licia slipped out the back, not wanting to be affiliated with Rory for fear of suffering the same fate. The whole time Jal kept yelling for them to stop, saying he was a royal advisor and they would suffer greatly for their actions. The orcish wedding

party ignored him and when they were done with Rory they left, cheering loudly about their victory. The battered and bloody OHale made his was slowly back to the castle and when he crawled up the final steps to the kings room he called out I have been betrayed! He then proceeded to tell the king about how Jal DekRunn and his group of murderous orcs attacked him at the Blue Barrel, claiming Jal ordered the assault in cold blood. The king sent investigators and they interviewed the townspeople, whom all seemed to remember a large party of orcs leaving, talking about how they had beaten up some red-haired fellow, and that should listen to the Jay more often. Unfortunately here, Jay is short for Jaymallic, the orc god of drinking, but the kings investigators took it to mean Jay for Jal, and reported their facts back to the king. Understandably furious, the king ordered Jal to the court to answer for his treachery. Every time he offered the truth, Rory would moan loudly, reminding the audience of his injuries supposedly at the hands of Jal. The king even brought the orcish wedding party in to testify, but they were still so inebriated, they only could mutter we love Jay and long live Jay. King Argamus, fearing one of his Three Lords was vying for the throne, sentenced Jal to exile in the Caiphus Desert, but not before ordering a J branded on his back, symbolizing the crushed usurpation attempt. Jal was made to walk around the desert for the rest of his days, with armed guards keeping him fed and watered, so he could continue his journey for the rest of his life. You may ask why Rory was so belligerent with Jal, the answer lies in his past. Rory grew up as a deck-hand on the royal ship Dynasty. Argamus loved the sea, and would often urge Rory to take him out sailing instead of going to his lessons, and Rory, who was equally in love with the sea, always obliged. The two became good friends and this friendship proved crucial, because one day an angry commoner (who happened to be an orc) stowed away on the royal ship to exact revenge on the then kings son, Argamus, because his own son had been lost in a fire as a result of an accident during royal military training. Rory saw the orc lunge from hiding at young Argamus and only just managed to tackle him before he reached the prince. The orc impaled himself with his knife during the scuffle, and Rory was shaken by the fact that had just killed someone for the first time. He was then knighted and given the title, Lord of the Wind and Sea, and from then on, Argamus never sailed anywhere without Rory behind the wheel. This first encounter with orcs gave Rory the distinct impression that they were irrational and not to be trusted. A few years later, his sister was raped by three young orcs outside the oasis south of the Caiphus desert while her caravan was stopping to restock. Rory was granted leave to grieve, but instead hunted the three down and killed them for their crime. He never told anyone what he had done, but harbored resentment for orc-kind from then on. What happened to the third Lord, Licia? That night she decided to take a vacation to her hometown, Il Barrak Versache, and see her family. Never one for conflict, she wanted to stay as far away as possible from the Rory-Jal dispute until it blew over, as she thought it eventually must. News didnt travel fast, but when she found out Jal

had been sentenced to such a harsh punishment, she decided to give the capital city a wide berth until a new Lord of the Three had been chosen and tensions were low. She also had it on her mind to marry King Argamus, since she had a soft spot for him since they had been amorous royal youngsters, he a prince, and she a high-born elf. The two had often found entertainment in playing at romance from a young age, but she took it to heart, while he had grown up knowing many other women. He was 28 and not yet married, and she thought it high time to strike up the conversation, but she didnt know how to begin, so she bided her time at the barracks and practiced her swordplay, like she always did when pondering something perplexing. One year passed, and Jal had made his rounds of the Caiphus desert a handful of times. His guards rotated at every town checkpoint and when he got the chance to speak to fellow orcs (native to the desert region, since their skin doesnt burn and their eyes dont water), he told them of the gross injustice that had been done to him at the hands of the king and the Council of Three (still Two at this point) and how it was only a matter of time before the prejudice made its way out of the capital and to their front doors. He gained a substantial following in only a year, since any leadership in times of strife (famine and drought) is magnified by the desire for change. When the time was right, he orchestrated for his guards to be killed and his chains broken. He mustered the strength of his followers (not quite an army) and started training them to live and fight as one. News didnt reach the crown about Jals escape for many months, and when it did, the king simply sent a few bands of men on horseback to find the traitor and set him back on his perpetual circle. Jals horde caught and killed the first several bands the king sent, until the time was right and they rode on horseback to the capital city and took the royal guard completely by surprise. Rory OHale had taken some time to recover by sailing around the country a few times, letting the salt and the sea aid him in his healing process. As soon as he heard that a horde on horseback was heading for the capital, he ordered his ship, the Great Ox, to go straight to Nicosia as fast as the wind would take them. He arrived just as the horde overtook the guard, but Jal and a small band of warriors had snuck in through a side entrance and killed the king. His mean beat back the orcs as Rory held Argamus in his arms as he bled and died just as Licia burst in through another side entrance. So how did the orcish horde get through the eastern corridor without Parres scouts sending word to the capital? Well Jal was smart and he knew a large force would be reported immediately, so he sent his men ahead in small bands, instructing them to travel lightly and tell anyone who asks that they are taking a pilgrimage to worship the god Jay, a jab at the crown for branding him with the J across his back, and the whole misunderstanding that caused his punishment. The horde was instructed to meet at Filpock and bribe the residents to not spread the word about the ensuing attack. The townsfolk kept quiet and consequentially caused the downfall of the

kingdom. To this day, being called a Filpock is a dirty thing, and is the worst kind of coward or lowlife. Licia Parre had spent her time going back and forth between her home at Il Barrak Versache and the capital Nicosia to spend time with Argamus, whom she still secretly loved. She paid little attention to the small groups of orcs making a pilgrimage to some god she didnt care about. She had finally made up her mind to tell the king how she felt about him and she set off full of hope and love. When she saw the city it was already under attack by Jals horde and she hurried in a side entrance to guard the king with her sword, and her life if need be. She burst into the throne room only to see Jal and his band retreating and Argamus bleeding out in Rorys arms. Her heart broke that day and a lifetime of love poured out of her as she cried and screamed about the loss of Argamus. This only infuriated Rory who berated her aggressively about letting this horde through her homeland and how she should have seen this coming and been prepared. He blamed the kings death solely on her and kept at this until Licia could take it no more. She drew her sword and advanced on Rory, intending to kill him. He knew she was a better fighter, but he also knew he was faster than her, so he ran away to his ships and set sail for the west coast, his homeland. The horde had no interest in occupying the capital city, but they made sure to ransack and pillage all they could before leaving it to the elements. A bitter war raged on between the homelands of the Three Lords and, having already done this metaphorically, they burned the bridges separating their land so that there could be no trade or travel between the territories, at least not easily. Jals horde adopted the name Tribe DekRunn, Rorys country became known as Tribe OHale, and Licias homeland called themselves Tribe Parre. The land between Filpock and the Nicosia became known as Thieves Quarter, because none of the Three Lords wished to be associated with either Filpock or the capital, the thieves and lowlifes of the realm all gravitated there where their nefarious deeds would go unpunished, and their bounty untaxed. As the centuries passed, the rivalries grew engrained, but stale. Most people dont like the other races because they arent supposed to and for no other reason. Tribe OHale focused on ship-building and sailing until their navy was unrivaled in the world; they value seaworthiness and ingenuity above all else. Tribe DekRunn amassed a calvary so large, that they had to migrate as a nomadic tribe in order not to suck dry any one place for too long; they value loyalty and fairness above all else. Tribe Parre worked on their combat skills and after several hundred years, swordfighters from all around the world heard tales of the legendary Parre fighters and their thousand forms of fencing; they value love and patience above all else. This is where you come in, 250 years after the death of Argamus. There is no war, but I would hardly call this peace. Will you form alliances? Will you make enemies? Will you fight for freedom or use your powers to enslave? The choice is yours.