The country of bloodless war

The country of bloodless war - passage four *DRAFT*

The fifteenth king of Salrig, kagare, – a heavily bearded man who was red faced and plump with a habit for wild behaviour – fathered four children during his rule, born as a set of twins from two separate mothers.

The first pair of twins, a boy called Sigrum and girl named Desali, were born to Kagre's wife, Delisa. She was a restless woman of the ocean, raised in a bustling fishing town that alongside bringing in hauls of fish, respectfully scavenged the coral for precious goods to craft with.

In the years that passed as Sigrum and Desali Progressed through childhood, folk would rumour that Delisa's children were in fact terrible monsters disguised as human beings, born from the coral and sent to land in order to drag it to the deepest depths of the ocean.

The second pair of twins, two boys, one named Gilifred and the other called Himbley, were born to a gentle woman called Karine. She was raised a forest monk from the nation of overgrown vegitation, Caroginia, – where the forests rampant growth was lulled through the order of monks focused calm- sent to live in a tired lumber town, providing voice to the adjacent forest.

Karine's pregnancy with both Gilifred and Himbley came about following Kagare's persistent interest in her, following his travel to the town for the purpose of unveiling a waterway linked to Bellerat, with the passage to be used for shipments of lumber. Following the birth of her children, Karine detached herself from the people she knew, journeying deep into the forest to live her life alone with the trees. Some say she left so suddenly out of shame, where others claim a chilling secret of the earth known only to the monks of Caroginia, drove her insane.

Much like the rumours that were spread about the twins born to Delisa, those with wild imaginations would suggest that Karine's young were in fact vengeful golems shaped to look like humans from root and dirt. They were created and sent by the forest in order to cause suffering to humankind, as a result of Karines inability to prevent the towns foresters from travelling deeper into its depths in search of richer trees.

The four children, both Delisa's own and those born to Karine, were raised under the royal household.

While Kagare initially tried to deny any knowledge of the monk girl, Karine, and the young he had given her, Delisa had her ways of finding the truth. She forced Kagare to raise Gilfred and Himbley alongside her own, as a way of making him face up to his dishonesty.

From as young as only several days old, the siblings showed great dislike between one another, resulting in endless nights of screaming as babies, and gruellingly long days of petty squabbling throughout childhood. As the four children grew older, they increased in cunning and greed by each passing year, playing cruel tricks on one another with very little in their reasoning for such aside from amusement

Kagare was growing older, weaker and frailer by the day, which impacted his ability to rule Salrig with the strength expected of a strong leader. Queen Delisa stated that when the time for Kagare to pass away inevitably came, she had very little interest in ruling as his successor. This meant that the responsibility of either king or queen would pass on to only one of the four siblings, which was a detail understood all too well by them, with such a great amount of power being too large an opportunity to pass on for the greedy.

What started as four ill tempered children with no better to do than play cruel tricks on one another, with such often growing out of hand to all involved, eventually grew to teenagers and young adults intent on injuring, if not eliminating one another through plans with deadly consequence.

With very little time between each report, news of mayhem throughout the nation became common, with the constant plotting between siblings becoming the centre of it all. In one such instance, the carelessness of an unskilled assassin resulted in several fields and a farmstead being set ablaze, where during another, a popular district among the wwealthy was sent into panic due to an exotic yet dangerous creature being conveniently set loose from its transport.

Despite being treacherous to one another, the sibling always acted in secrecy, as to avoid being seen to blame for anything dreadful that would happen either intentionally or as may be more more likely, unintentionally.

Whilst not fighting among one another, the three princes and one princess played an act of harmlessness, acting to demonstrate how they were capable as leaders, with considerable emphasis in such being show nto their father, who had yet to announce a their successor.

Despite being a leader both tired and slightly senile, Kagare was far from becoming a man that was idiotically blind to events. He knew exactly how viscous and greedy his children had become, acting with very little care for the land or its people, as they fought to remove one another untill only one remained.

Kagare, who could no longer overlook the childish destruction being caused by his children's antics, came up with a plan to deal with the with the siblings until such a point where they would be able to settle their differences without the need to murder one another.

As vile as the four were, they were still Kagre's own, and while his remaining time may have been limited, he aimed to create a sense of peace throughout the nation in his remaining years. Not just to keep his children alive, but more importantly, for the good of the country.