Prologue of The Thorn, used as tester material for my new line breaks because I'm so tired of broken asterisks.
Intercepted letter addressed to the court of Dranath, 1043:
To the Silken Cord,
Many thanks for your efforts aiding me in my own ambitions. However, I remain attached to the disposed, as does my honor. I will come and claim the debt.
The debt will be paid to me. I demand it.
In trust,
Lord of the White Peaks
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Letter from an indeterminate messenger shot down near the Aurunian border, 1043:
To Wings that Shield the Sun,
Consider again my proposal. Is there no recourse? I will come, and you will give me your answer then.
Fair winds,
Buccaneer
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Paper scrap retrieved from charred desk in ruins, in clumsy handwriting and with multiple mistakes scribbled out, 1043:
Sir,
wen will you next return! her MAJESTY men are telling us to leave but we want to stay becasse we dont want to leave the farm. da says we should stay but papa says its dumb to stay here and it would get us al killed. They figh t about it and i wasnt suppost to hear but da saw me and he got mad. papa said dont bring the kids into this and da said you want to make the kids leave. they stoped fighting and da sent me to bed but I hear them fight again after
we miss you and flo says he will go to squire scho ol like you. what is HER HIGHNESS like! papa said she is pretty and da said not prettier than you. they fight but they still say these th ings to eachother. pleas bring me a new satchel wen you come again
love wendy
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Excerpt from The Races of Randil published in 996by V. Dresnel, Imperial Aurunianeugenicist:
In this continent there are three major races, each occupying a region of Randil and have thusly adapted to their environments.
The Hierstag are a mountain society known for living in rock caverns. They are remarkably pale and are divided into familial clans, [....]
Raham's island city-states are, according to their scholars, disparate tribes under a larger identity. Nonetheless, the island men are [....]
The kingdom of Dranath and the suzerainties of Aurune belong in the same subrace, with [....]
[....]
It can be noted that physical traits also differentiate the races, specifically amongst cranial measurements [....]
[....]
It is remarkable that the reigning power of Dranath's royal House of Thorn has kept its title, despite its virulent proclivity for incest; always the head marries its tail. To be noted is that the former Aurunian royal line had practiced this also, and has been ended thusly—princes became more inbred and soon no king was fit to rule, [....]
***
Foreword of a more recent edition of The Races of Randil published in 1031, by physiologists at Yraad Fortress:
Racial science, specifically pertaining to cranial measurements and other physiology, is outdated and not a valid basis for segregation. These phenotypes may coexist regardless of combination, as modern intersubgroup procreation can attest. The claims that V. Dresnel made in his work—including that "crossbreeding results in malformed devil spawn or beasts of fur"—are simply untrue.
[....]
[....] The House of Thorn no longer practices royal intermarriage, with the reign of Queen Carmilla [....]
