Death, And Therefore Rebirth

Pain, And Therefore Vow

"Denial was unknown to me, and as such,
I endeavoured mightily to ensure it did not return."

Ifer Maren I passed away in 1040 from pleurisy; as a result, he was the first ruler of Nurea to ever die of natural causes. In his years, he was 71. Because he outlived his six children, Ifer's grandson of the same name succeeded him. The second son of Mèrea Tursarì (741-1267) and Juret Maren IV (887-948), Ifer Maren II was born in the year 942. He matured 4.75 times slower than a full human; his mother, a quarter deity, was a half-sister of Aren Nirenta.

The younger Ifer was nothing like his grandfather. While the elder was irenic, the younger was bellicose. The First had inherited his great-grandfather Murn's patience and analytical mind; the Second was impatient, rash and had an awful temper that he had inherited from his spoiled and irascible father. Ifer Maren I himself had a negative opinion of his namesake. He had intended to leave the throne to Elyn Rena (964-1076), the son of his first daughter Jurene (881-1018,) but since 739, this was against the law. Seret had made it so that when a leader of Nurea died, his heir would have to have the last name of Maren. He also made it so that females were barred from the royal succession. Upon Ifer's death, his namesake was the only grandson that could rule Nurea legally.

Thirty-five years after he inherited Nurea, Ifer met Valea Feren (1058-1081,) the ravishing, dark-haired daughter of Manten Irta XI (1015-1079) and Pymura Feren (1025-1108.) Manten, who was a general back in Irta, gave up his position of power in 1050 to wed Pymura, who was the matriarch of the Feren family and the mayor of Fluan, a town in western Nurea. Descended from Gelet Ferlyn (583-640) and Mantea Irta XIII (592-643), the Ferens, like the Ferlyns before them, had governed Fluan for three hundred years. The post of mayor passed from mother to daughter. Gelet had splintered off of his family in 613 as a result of a power struggle between him and his younger sister Amelea (583-646) after the death of their mother Ethell (541-612.) Amelea had initially won, but died childless, thus ending the Ferlyn dynasty and the name. Her niece, Prieta Feren, inherited the town.

A year after they initially met, Ifer and Valea married for their mutual love instead of the olive branch. Ifer was pleased with his wife, and this had a positive effect on him. He was less irascible and between him and his men, there was less friction. Nurea entered a golden age, the first one since Amera Maren had been her Irene. In 1077, she replaced Meran as the wealthiest realm and those who were once poor now lived like gentry. This was a result of Ifer taking several resource-rich cities from the Dervi, the Lanteneans, the Aral and the Arenians between 1076 and 1080. In 1079, Nurea was in the highest of spirits due to Valea giving birth to a son named Juren ("Hopefully he won't be as mediocher [sic] as the man for which he was named," Ifer wrote in his diary.) He confidently told his citizens, "The end of Iremu is nigh, and Ernalda will be ours." However, like many good things, this age of wealth, confidence and happiness was as ephemeral as the may-fly. It ended in the year 1081.

Teren Hernal XIV (1036-1086) was the Iren of the eastern country of Arene. In just four years, he had lost sixty-four percent of his territory to Ifer Maren II. This loss made him especially bitter because his heir and younger brother Æliet, the Duke of Alvitetha, was married to Valea's older sister, Irene (1054-1086.) Irene had married Æliet at the age of fifteen, and since then, she had become Arenian, through and through. Teren was best friends with his sister-in-law who felt just as incensed as he did about Arene's predicament. The two attributed Ifer's recent successes back to Valea, and worked out a way to make her fall out of Ifer's favour or even be killed. With Irene's help, Teren spread a rumour that Valea had been spying for her sister and that she was carrying his child. Obviously, none of this was true--Teren was secretly gay and Valea had no contact with Irene--but Juret the Fourth was a gullible and iracund man, and so was his son, until Valea brought out the best in him. The rumour was tailored to bring back Ifer's worst.

Thanks in part to the fact that gossip was one of three things that Arenians thrived on, the other two being sex and a good meal, the rumour spread across Ernalda like wildfire, reaching Ifer in three days. As Irene and Teren had hoped for, he fell for it and confronted Valea in a wood, livid enough to kill--and he did, after Valea denied that the rumours were true. The fact that she was five months pregnant did not matter to him in the heat of the moment. He looked at her, and saw not the wife he knew, but a traitress who deserved no mercy, not even for her child. Ifer had his sword with him, a sword that was over a foot long, honed and sharpened to such a point that it was reputed to cut you just by you looking at it. He spitted her like a lamb to roast, took a torch and destroyed the evidence.

He came back to the rest of his family coated with his wife's blood, and claimed that he confronted her only to find that the rumour was untrue. Ifer had apologized for jumping to conclusions, and Valea had forgiven him. They were making love in the woods and forgiving each other when a bear unexpectedly sprang up on them, and ate Valea. Ifer had allegedly killed the bruin but could not save his wife, and he told his family that it was its blood that he wore. For the rest of his life, he wished that that was the truth.

Five years later, Teren himself told Ifer that the rumours weren't true. Realising that he killed Valea for nothing, Ifer took care to thoroughly search Ernalda for the Hernals, killing every one he could find....