Veriel

Chapter 1

The island of Prydain was a miserable place.

At least, that was the opinion of General Tullus Auranius, he of curling hair and boulder-esque build and perpetually frowning mouth.

The native Prydish rather liked the rolling green hills and rivers of the south, the majestic highlands of the north, the ever-present rain and fog. They were born from this land, sculpted from its soil. It was their very picture of paradise - which General Tullus Auranius would have known if he'd ever asked them about it.

But General Tullus Auranius did not talk to common people, because such poor unfortunate souls were beneath him, and so why would he care to know anything about them?

Of course, this sort of attitude was evaluated by onlookers to be quite stinky. Most everyone in Aquila and Prydain and every other place with a name agreed that General Tullus Auranius was a pompous donkey with an unsettling left eyebrow.

Unfortunately, he was a pompous donkey with a sword, and many of his pompous donkey friends also had swords, and they were all inclined to use swords when their feelings were hurt, so no one ever got around to telling them the truth.

Thus, General Tullus Auranius floated through life cheerfully unaware of his donkeyness, and he had a wonderful time bowling over everyone in his path.

Just as he was planning to retire from a distinguished career in the Aquilan army and pursue politics, the emperor asked him to spearhead the invasion of a little island full of pesky primitive tribes.

So off he went. When the aforementioned tribes informed him that they would prefer not to be invaded, General Tullus Auranius decided they were simply confused.

He moved onward and upward through the countryside, using the might of the empire to batter all in his path. The tribes did not find this amusing and gave the Aquilans a very cold welcome filled with much name-calling, head whacking, and fatal poking.

General Tullus Auranius was undeterred and pushed forward. However, when the native clans continued to express their firm displease at being conquered, it was he who became confused.

Surely, he thought, these silly peasants should be grateful to have new friends introducing efficiency and civilization into their greasy, dismal lives. Surely, he thought, they'll stop bursting out of the trees with painted faces and axes at any moment now.

However, no matter how many villages he took over, the Prydish continued to be very grumpy. When his soldiers began to mope about all the wounds and deaths, General Tullus Auranius re-evaluated his strategy.

In the end, General Tullus Auranius only made it halfway up the island before simply building a wall to keep the rest of hairy rabble out of his new corner of Aquila. When the final stone was laid, he nodded in satisfaction and told himself this must have been his plan all along.

With the wall built and his work done, it was time to settle and rule over his new subjects. After snooping through the countryside, General Tullus Auranius decided the most ideal location was a grassy hill some miles downstream from the river port of Lundenium.

Though it simply would not do to build a home in the ugly Prydish style, thought he. When his wife and children made the crossing, he ordered that they bring building materials and artwork from their homeland.

Three years later, Tullus' Villa stood majestically atop the grassy hill.

Even the Prydish could not deny that the estate – however terribly unsuited it was for the landscape and weather – was quite lovely indeed. Beautiful colored glasses and mosaics covered the inside walls. Bearskins and lion pelts littered the floors. A magnificent courtyard was attached, with gardens on the east and west, and a labyrinth of hedges to the south.