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Have you heard the rumors from Dimovka?
Since the massacre of the imperial Veselovsky family, the people believe their new ruler to be unstable. As if one too many cold winters has frozen over their heart. They say the new Tsar personifies the winter months of Dimovka as if they themselves were wrought from the snow. Cruel and merciless, unforgiving to the passions of the previous season. Slaughtering what lies naked and unprotected, unable to defend from the chill of December. And they rage like those winter months, heartless and unrelenting. Nothing but the bitter freeze of anger to drive their soul.
Some say the Tsar is a woman, born of no noble rank and who once held a position of military strength. Others say a man of bastardized royal blood, driven out with overwhelming humiliation of the previous Tsar Mislov Veselovsky IV. Yet most agree that they are more beast than human. With no redeeming qualities yet to be seen and an iron grip of fear over the empire. They are called Tsar with a waver in one's tone and a shake of one's hand. They are called Imperator with a quiver of the lip and a hesitation budding on their tongue. They are called Bies with the utmost certainty from all.
It's said that former Tsar Mislov IV was killed with their sword. Slit on the throat and gouged of eyes. It's said that his corpse was flung from the castle onto the pavilion below. That his organs spilled from his stomach and his empty eyes lamented with vermillion tears. That the stains of his mangled corpse smothered the blanced snow in a sea of red-- that the cobblestone latent underneath has been stained since. It's said his heart was cut from his chest and found between the teeth of Bies. And there it remained with fangs dug into the brute of the vessels and a tongue resting flat beneath it. It's said that those who saw the body of Tsar Mislov IV were convinced that no man could have committed such an act, as it was more ferocious and condemning than hell itself.
Have you heard that the Tsar of Dimovka is most thought to be the devil?
That the only religion spoken from the native tongue is that of violence?
That the empire will fall at the hands of a holy war?
Have you heard that the Tsar of Dimovka is coming to Paradis for talks of unity?
309, PARADIS
june
The kingdom of Paradis is not exempt from the callous gaze of Dimovka.
The normally humid and hot weather of June has subsided to an ugly frost, the streets darkened and chilled. The countrysides frozen over with hatred of the North, the sea muddied grey, the forests choked with a wintry grasp. The previously vibrant wildlife has become decayed and lifeless. The shops closed and boarded up. The lively streets diluted down to nothing but imperial guards and citizens peering curiously outside of their curtained windows. The world moves at a snail's pace, slowing down to accommodate the arrival of the continent's most feared dictator. The streets of Paradis are silent. But not so much the homes.
