Post by Ivaii on Sept 27, 2013 2:11:16 GMT -8
The Present day
Today, Shai is respected throughout its limited world. It has grown complacent--though its trade has never reached farther, its scholars never known more and its diplomats never traveled further for allies, the King is a lazy, arrogant man. The Nobles are a scheming lot, mostly set on vying for power without any care for their people, with their estates in the control of landlords no less corrupt than they. The King's Councillors jostle for favor, caring more about hiding their plots from their peers than ensuring the kingdom is well run, or even run at all, more intent on making money than planning on how to transport crops from the south to the northern cities.
Even the Dragonwarriors are not incorruptible--the Northern Dragonlord has been bribed to turn a blind eye to certain goings-on in his domain. The very things that the Dragonwarriors were established to protect the people from have infected their leaders and lifestyles. Those long ago promises to protect the people, even if if it was from their own countrymen, seem to have been forgotten in the pampered North.
Here, though, such machinations would be folly, for there is a much more dangerous game to be played--the game that stretches back to the beginning of time; the game of life and death. The unpredictable seas are far more dangerous than any Court maneuvering, and the seasonal raids and violent weather more time consuming than hiding a mistress from ones wife, even in this apparent paradise. Here, nothing is taken for granted--nothing can be. There is no easy lifestyle. There are no high and mighty; no lofty ideals. There is only survival and the necessity of working one's share.
Especially among the Dragonwarriors, for here, chaos is as rampant as the day that Shai became a nation.
Today, Shai is respected throughout its limited world. It has grown complacent--though its trade has never reached farther, its scholars never known more and its diplomats never traveled further for allies, the King is a lazy, arrogant man. The Nobles are a scheming lot, mostly set on vying for power without any care for their people, with their estates in the control of landlords no less corrupt than they. The King's Councillors jostle for favor, caring more about hiding their plots from their peers than ensuring the kingdom is well run, or even run at all, more intent on making money than planning on how to transport crops from the south to the northern cities.
Even the Dragonwarriors are not incorruptible--the Northern Dragonlord has been bribed to turn a blind eye to certain goings-on in his domain. The very things that the Dragonwarriors were established to protect the people from have infected their leaders and lifestyles. Those long ago promises to protect the people, even if if it was from their own countrymen, seem to have been forgotten in the pampered North.
Here, though, such machinations would be folly, for there is a much more dangerous game to be played--the game that stretches back to the beginning of time; the game of life and death. The unpredictable seas are far more dangerous than any Court maneuvering, and the seasonal raids and violent weather more time consuming than hiding a mistress from ones wife, even in this apparent paradise. Here, nothing is taken for granted--nothing can be. There is no easy lifestyle. There are no high and mighty; no lofty ideals. There is only survival and the necessity of working one's share.
Especially among the Dragonwarriors, for here, chaos is as rampant as the day that Shai became a nation.