The clans of the Kingdom of Paran are seldom at peace, with her squabbling
warlords and clan leaders, but for a thousand years, the leader of the clan
Paranese has ruled over them as King. When a forty year war breaks out
between the brutual Rolsof and Kauth clans, the young boy King, and his
father before him, decide not to intervene, figuring that the fight may
spill enough blood to subdue and weaken them both. However, it is at the
end of this war, with victory for the Kauth in sight, that a conspiracy is
born.
Maintaining a strange neutrality in the war, Gunther the Kauth, leader of
the famous Academy of Warriors, begins delaying the graduation of his
students, slowly building an impressive army of fresh elite fighting men.
Meanwhile, he also dispatches his secret troops to acquire certain magical
artifacts, to add to his power, and uses a threat of Elvish invasion, almost
to Gunthers disaster, to seal an alliance with other clans. When the
warlord Robert the Warhammer, leader of the Kauth in their victory against
the Rolsof, returns to claim his prize, he finds a confident and powerful
Gunther, who quickly dispatches Robert and himself claims the spoils of
victory.
The King of Paran is caught off guard. Expecting two beaten down clans
passified by their fatigue, he finds instead a new power rising in the west,
and an unfamiliar name calling himself King of all Paran. When a powerful
Orcish army invades the west, the young boy King again decides to stay on
the sidelines, hoping the battles may weaken his usurpers forces. In this
he is correct, though there are unintended consequences, as the Kauth secure
the loyalty of the independent City of Maltan, and of the northern Kesana
clan during the battles against the invasion.
The lands of the Paranian tribes are now in utter turmoil, torn apart by the
competing warlords. The army of the young King of Paran have finally
marched on the encampments of his rival usurper, the brutal but capable
Gunther the Kauth. As the "Battle for Bethu" rages in the west for the the
rights to the throne, the great city of Paran, long a lone beacon of
stability in the region, is beseiged by the Kesana and Dartan clans loyal to
Gunther, along with some of the elite assassins of Gunther. Only the
Tabatan clan remains loyal to the traditional thrown.
What will be the fate of the Kingdom? Will the King defeat his rival
and fend off the thrusts of the rebellious clans? Will Gunther prove
victorious and enter the city of Paran as King behind the support of those
clans who have pledged it? Will the evil priestess Krytir, working
tirelessly to undermine both regimes, succeed in her goal of utter anarchy
in the region? And what of the curse of Drakavo, the Black Dragon, and his
prophecy?
The final battle has yet to be fought. The future hangs in the balance.
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