Tales of Ivan The Terrible
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The realm of Prirod was once a pillar of civilization. Its lush green forests opened up to fertile meadows where bunnies would pass the day sleeping in the shade with kittens and badgers, never fearing the slightest predator. Massive cities rivaled the mountains in height, towering over the thousands of citizens below. Magics were common and made life beautiful for the most part, kept in check by guilds and orders of faith. This was life in Prirod, until one day without warning, a terrible shock wave covered the realm in darkness and despair. Civilization fell to the evils of magic, leaving the lands barren, opening the forest to terrible evil. The remnants of Humanity were left huddled together in small villages, totally defenseless against the perils lurking in the forests. This is the legend passed down by the few old enough to remember the realm that was.
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After years of adventure wizard at the end of his life set out to resurrect an old evil emperor, hoping he could use his unique ability to channel the magic of life to cure the evil from this emperor. If such evil could be cast from a creature so vile, perhaps Prirod could one day be restored. The wizard spent years sending brave fools after the bones of the emperor. They had been scattered across the earth long before the Cataclysm to ensure that no one would ever bring him back to this realm. By the time he had acquired them all, he was nearly to weak to perform the ritual of rebirth. With his last breath he spoke the words of rebirth and made the emperor whole once more.
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Upon waking from his slumber, Ivan forgot all the things of his past life, as if they had been buried deep inside him. He wandered through the vast wastes of Prirod for years, until one day he remembered a fractured part of his past. He remembered the world the way it had been. He realized he could control the elements somewhat, drawing energy from the world around him. Then he remembered he had once ruled over a grand nation, stretching across the realm, all loyal to his will. He set out to rebuild his lost empire, sure that whoever had put him in his deep slumber was responsible for the destruction of this realm.
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Thus he came across an area rich in natural resources, partially inhabited by one of the few stable refugee camps. Here he declared they would no longer have to live like a refugee, founding the nation of Ivan Romanov, the benevolent. After a few seasons many people in the wilderness came to hear of a town being built nearby. This was Moskva, the first beacon of civilization since the Cataclysm. Time passed on and Ivan, the benevolent became known as Ivan, the builder, forger of nations, protector of the weak, and wonder to all he meets. Ivan Romanov began to manage his new Kingdom with extreme efficiency, protecting valuable resources, fighting off bandits and monsters, and expanding the number of villages as his army grew sufficient. In this, the first era since the Cataclysm, life was good for the citizens of Romanov, or Russia as many began to call it in the common tongue.
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As Ivan continued his quest to restore the realm to its former glory, he became increasingly powerful. Blacksmiths allowed him to have strong armor forged for him and his soldiers, along with swift swords of superior slashing. It was then that he became known as Ivan The Terrible, a name he would never lose again. His empire was coming into its own and he decided it was time to consider a line of succession. He had always admired the people of his towns, but none of them were likely to be worthy of carrying on his noble quest when he eventually became too old to lead, though he noticed he did not seem to age as quickly as some of the hags at the Inn. As destiny would permit, he found a young beautiful adventurer named Zuhare. She came from the east in search of the now famous nation of Russia and was taken in as a knight defender of the Kingdom instantly. On their first day of meeting Ivan boldly asked her hand in marriage, to which she replied no, saying they had only just met. Fortunately, a few months later she caved when she saw his gildar fountain. And so Zuhare became Zuhare Romanov, Queen of Russia, betrothed to Ivan Romanov, The Terrible. Together they circled the land fighting off the increasing number of beastmasters that had been plaguing Russian trade.
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After a two year campaign the King of the Beastmasters was finally found, hiding among the cliffs of Mount Gerault, northwest of Kiev. Ivan met him ready for battle, not knowing the cunning he was about to face. The Beastmaster had sent his greatest creatures to wait beyond the cliffs, knowing this would mean his defeat. He had planned, you see, to escape by calling forth a great eagle, on which he could ride over the cliffs to safety, with his army of beasts lying in wait for the queen to come to his majesty's aid (I am assuming this is why the only thing stopping Ivan left the Beastmaster to die on these cliffs. This foolish King of beasts would soon learn of the magical power of Ivan The Terrible. As the Beastmaster retreated, waiting for his eagle to fly him to safety, Ivan began to call upon his ancient instincts. Then, the winged beast ascended from below and screeched a horrible call of attack. Ivan spun around and push his hands out towards the eagle. A glow emanated from his hands, growing brighter, it started to cover his whole body. With a force unseen in centuries, Ivan blasted the bird with arcane magic, flowing from his fingertips as if he had done so many times before. Just then Queen Zuhare, on her trusty steed, was ambushed by the foul beasts at the base of the mountain. She had been fighting armies of bears, bandits, and wolves for two years now and knew just where to strike them so that they would die before even touching the earth. As she was finishing up what she thought to be the last of the Beastmaster's minions, a great Skath, cousin to dragons, charged her at full speed. Just barely absorbing the brunt of this foulcreature's bite, she lept towards it and stabbed with full strength into its neck, puncturing its brain and its severing carotid artery. With the army of beasts defeated, Ivan set to slaying its creator to make sure no other such army would terrorize his nation again.
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When news of the defeat of the Beastmasters spread it was not long that many small armies began to ally, in fear of being overrun by Ivan's now formidable army. A huge force had set its sights on the Fire Shrine called Darej, southeast of Moskva. It was not well defended and had no roads near it to allow for timely reinforcements. The army of bandits moved closer everyday to the shrine, hoping to arrive before any of the King's legions could arrive. A small group of them made it ahead of the others. They were able to enter Darej, killing a few priests and servants of the fire, before met by the area's two guards, who narrowly emerged victorious from overwhelming odds. This was only the first of many groups headed for Darej, but it had given Queen Zuhare enough time to reach the shrine. She entered the Fire Shrine to find a young girl that had been slain mercilessly by the bandit army. Furious at these cruelbastards, she galloped towards their encampment. The bandits were waken to the sounds of desperate screaming as Queen Zuhare unleashed her new found ability to cast magic on these pitiful miscreants. She would not stop until every last one of them was lying in a pool of their own blood. The battle took two days and it is said she killed a hundred men an hour, until they finally began to run for their lives. Then she hunted them as deer, only stopping to impale a few on their own spears. The battle was bloody and entirely one-sided. The realm had been saved from another long guerrilla war that could have taken decades. Unknown to Zuhare at the time, she was pregnant with Ivan's child. The evil she inflicted on those men would seep into her very soul, poisoning her child with blood-lust. Soon after, the battle was heralded as The Battle of Darej, where a single hero defended the realm against the darkest shade of humanity. Zuhare fell ill after the battle, and iller still with each praise she received from her subjects. It would take several blood lettings and cleansing rituals to free her from this sickness, not realizing it was the child within her that was the source of her impurity. The child was suspended from growing in size or intelligence, stuck in stagnation while the evil fermented its soul.
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The Kingdom continued on for many years in quiet solace, though soon the Kingdom of Russia would be beset by peril.
