After having lived a long and assumedly fulfilling life, King Alvaen Pireni passed away, leaving his only son Alandar to rule Liegendir. Despite his comprehensive education, Alandar was inexperienced and he relied heavily on the counsel of his late father’s advisor, Urael.

Although he boasted glowing recommendations, this advisor was selfish and discontent with his lot in life. He grew greedy over time and with a weak king on the throne, Urael felt that the time was ripe for him to take complete control. He began poisoning the young king, not enough to kill him, but enough to sufficiently disable him and keep him ill. With the king sick, Urael was able to do as he pleased and none of the royal family could stop him.

After several weeks of this mysterious illness, the king’s mother began to grow suspicious. She had not survived the intrigues of court for so many years without gaining an intuitive sense of when something was wrong. After much consideration, when King Alandar’s life seemed to be in peril, she made the decision to move the royal family.

They remained in Liegendir as long as possible, reluctant to leave their people and responsibilities. Meanwhile, the advisor plotted to murder the royal family and declare himself king, instead of living in the shadow of yet another Pireni. Alandar’s mother discovered the conspiracy and without a moment’s hesitation she and the rest of the royal family fled the country.

The court at Godshammer accepted them warmly, having had good relations with the Pireni family for hundreds of years. Several loyal subjects followed them there, to serve and protect their royals. Alandar and his wife Rhaswen watched their children Ramault and Naliah grow up there, in a foreign court, far from the country of their birth. Alandar’s younger sister Avenn became a formidable young woman and captured the attention of all the eligible bachelors. But unfortunately, their lives were struck by further tragedy.

The poisoning left Alandar in a weakened state, his heart was fragile and he got sick easily. His mother, who had saved them all, passed away of seemingly natural causes the next fall. Despite this, they all watched and waited, looking for an opportunity to take their rightful lands back from the greedy advisor who had betrayed their trust.

Meanwhile, back in Liegendir, the new King Urael had married and begun a family. He was very protective of his wife, Queen Clarrine, and his daughter, Princess Jaenyl. The land lived under the strict rule that King Urael enforced with violence and blackmail. Any mention of the Pireni’s was considered treasonous and the punishments for doing so were so severe that in time, they seemed to have passed completely from memory.

Not all was well within the royal palace, though. Together with a wizard of ill repute, Queen Clarrine planned to take over the country, through the removal of her young daughter and husband. She was cold, callous, and unfeeling, giving her own family a slow death through cruel and torturous magic. She had undoubtably lost her mind, though no one who learned of this plot attempted to stop her, as they were all afraid for their own lives.

Alacalain, a wizard loyal to the Pireni family, scried this dissention. After much discussion and debate, it was agreed that he and Ramault would return to Liegendir to try and regain control. They arrived at a very opportune time, during a festival. The pair of men made their way to the Keep of Leonne, where the current royal family resided.

King Urael and his family had promised to attend an auction that very day, and when they hadn’t shown up, the auctioneer traveled to their estate in concern. King Urael, Queen Clarrine, Princess Jaenyl, General Pheron, Ramault, Alcalain, and the auctioneer Makaih are all assumed to have been in the same room when tragedy suddenly struck.

No one is quite sure what occurred, not even the sole survivor, Ramault. He was found beneath the rubble of the destroyed keep and the ashes of the others. His rescuers were suspicious of the young man and he was immediately put under arrest. The following investigations came up with nothing, though the most popular theory is that the magic the Queen had intended to kill her family had somehow gone horribly wrong. The only reason Ramault survived was because Alcalain has sensed the magics and put a protective shield around him before the explosion happened, sacrificing himself in the process.

Ramault explained everything he could to the authorities, though they remained suspicious and attempted to detain him in custody. Sensing that this was hopeless and he would most likely be executed if he remained here, Ramault escaped.

Now a fugitive, he was hunted by some of the best and brightest of the land. Only the bravery of a loyal ranger kept him from falling victim to the daggers of an assassin, his protector dying in his stead. He barely made it away, to a relatively safe haven.

The next few days were a mess, with rumors ranging from believable to completely outrageous. Any news on what had happened was chancy at best and the ranger guildleader Myan? was attempting to sort through it. Due to her Elven heritage, she was old enough to have been around when the rightful rulers had been dethroned. She knew Ramault was telling the truth and had known it all along, but had not spoken out previously for fear that the false royals would destroy her guild.

Myan? went with a group of trusted rangers to track down the prince, who was hiding out in the redwood forest of D’Mare Fin. She was immediately able to recognize his father’s features and his mother’s eyes, though it had been nearly 18 years since she had last seen the prince. She was more than willing to stake her reputation and position to verify Ramault’s story and identity.

The rangers took Ramault back to their guild and stood watch day and night, assisted by many others. The lands rejoiced in the removal of the oppressive false royals and looked forward to the return of the new. Many suddenly remembered the old days, times when creativity, learning, and the well being of all was encouraged and protected.

The newly restored King Alandar had sworn to return to Liegendir within a week and Prince Ramault insisted that he himself was not there to rule. At the expected day of King Alandar’s arrival, a messenger crashed ashore in D’Mare Fin, carrying the King’s signet ring and a weathered scroll with him. The scroll sent word that the ship that was intended to carry the royal family back to Liegendir was damaged and they would not be able to return until the repairs were finished. In the meantime, Prince Ramault was to rule in his father’s stead.

His first task was to restore the castle, which had been mysteriously cloaked in magic until a few days ago, when the residence became visible once again. It was in a terrible state of disrepair and desperately needed to be rebuilt. While the treasury was empty, Prince Ramault refused to raise taxes to pay for the repairs, instead choosing to take donations.

The arrival of the castle surprised Myan?, who had completely forgotten about it. Sensing that something was wrong, she contacted the mage guildleader Clyndestyne?. Together, they found that the memory loss was not due completely to the harsh punishments and time, but to a dark spell. All the available spellcasters in the land were called to Clyndestyne?’s office, where they all grouped their talents together and wrought a reversal spell of epic proportions.

The spell was an amazing success and many things were revealed. At the time of the false royals ascention, Myan? had led an attack on them with all of the forces of Liegendir behind her. Before their victory against the false idols was complete though, Clarrine’s wizard cast a cloaking spell. During the confusion that ensued, he cast another series of spells designed to make the citizens forget the Pireni family.

Myan?, however, was cursed with the burden of being the only one to remember. A close eye was kept on her, though no one would believe her even if she had decided to come forward.

Even with the false royals dead, someone sent a group of titans to kill the spellcasters while they were conducting the spell. All of them perished in the battle, though they were able to be revived. It seemed that someone still had something to hide, and only time would tell what it is.

Several weeks after, the King and the rest of the royal family returned. The only one who was missing was Royal Princess Avenn, who remained in Godshammer as part of a betrothal agreement. A masquerade ball was held to celebrate their return and ever since, the King has worked as hard as his health would allow undoing the wrongs the false royals had brought upon his beloved country.