Gathering for hunt

     Hunting party has assembled on the first autumn days, when the sun finally begun to grow weak in the wast forests of the northern lands of the Forlons, when the time for boar hunting is excellent. The young emperor needs to prove himself before the aged nobles, and since mighty Arlon, his grandfather and founder of the empire, had crushed most of the enemies - the Mujits, Normons, northerners and many others, war offered little chance for advancement of one's reputation. Years of peace have left the warmongering nobles grumbling at the decadence of the sons of their sons, since many of them knew nothing of facing a true opponent on the field of battle. 

     And thus hunting became a new way to fill ones need for bloodshed and finding someone who will put up a decent fight, since the man was never a good prey to hunt and you needed peasant hands to maintain your lands, it was up to wild boars with their thick hides and mad rage to replace the enemy that you needed to go really far to find. 

     The entourage of the emperor was great as if he was going into war against a real enemy clad in steel, not some wild pigs in the far away north. He was surrounded with his most trusted advisers many whom spent time in the presence of the first emperor himself. They were old for the hunt, but needed to know is the boy ready to become a man when facing in the cold night a fearsome enemy that will kill him on sight. There was ten great advisers followed by their most trusted servants, ten per adviser each. And the ten great servants per adviser were followed by their own small servants mostly their own children whom probably had once in a lifetime opportunity to go see emperor hunt and freely taste the wild meat without the fear of getting hanged. While the size of their families varied it is safe to assume each great servant had ten children of their own. This was just the close emperors entourage since as I mentioned many nobles from the lands joined the hunt to show themselves as well and to prove loyalty and strength to the new emperor. 

     From the southern lands that look at the sea, came the rich in trade, nobles of the great cities of Taur - river cities that provided emperor with fleets to sail the high seas with his armies and conquer the lands beyond the horizon of the waters. There were many nobles, as there was many cities, since there soil was rich and food were aplenty and rivers were great as the seas themselves and the mountains gave many precious metals to feed the treasuries of both the nobles and the emperor. Number of nobles cannot be numbered as can you number grains of sands on the beach? That's how many of them came before the emperor to join the hunt. And if the emperors entourage was great, the nobles put that greatness to shame with the number of servants they brought, along with many whores and courtesans they brought for their servants and themselves to keep them warm in the coldness of the night if the sheer numerous hands to keep the great camp fires wasn't enough. 

     From the north came the emperors most trusted warriors and soldiers, whom were modest compared to emperor in the entourage, as they never got used to luxury in which the southerners wallow themselves into. Their lands are cold and unforgiving, land is harsh as a choosy mistress, it refuses to give any and all food if hard work is not put into her and even then no one is sure will it give anything. The northerners could be easily numbered, as if you could turn them into salt for a southerner they could not salt properly his average meal. 

     And yes there were those from the conquered ones whom came to bow down before the young Emperor to prove their loyalty to the conquerors, always rebellious Mujits with their strange customs that were brought from far away lands when they were banished and whom lived in the mountains of central Azaburg worshiping their leaders as if they were gods even if they were poorer then the poorest citizens or peasants from southern cities. Always paranoid they never showed their faces to strangers, as only those who recognize their faith as true, have the right to see the one who'm follows the true path. Oh how the soldiers of the Emperor tortured them, they would just take of their masks or padded wrappings around heads and force them to walk in the cities before the crowd while yelling "See the gods!" It was said that many Mujits died of that shame, many mighty warriors whom saw their families massacred and their women pleasured in front of their eyes and yet didn't move a muscle died from their faith broken not being able to move on.