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wounds. The Mimbrate Knights and the Asturian Foresters would
undoubtedly have resumed the eons-old bloodshed between them
on the spot had it not been for the timely intervention of Brand
XXXI, the towering Warder of Riva, who had just overthrown the
mighty Kal-Torak. The enthusiasm of all the kingdoms of the west
over his victory gave his word virtually the weight of law.
Summoning both the Mimbrate and Asturian Barons before him, he
quickly determined that the heir to the Mimbrate throne was a
strong young man, and that the last descendant of the Asturian
Duchy was a young maiden. He thereupon ordered that the two be
married, thus joining the two houses in a unified monarchy and
ending the war that had lasted for eons. When it was pointed out to
him that a marriage between an Asturian and a Mimbrate was more
likely to cause a war than end one, he instructed that the two young
people be imprisoned alone together in a tower for the space of one
year. This was done, and for the first several months the shouts of
the two as they wrangled and argued could be heard for some
distance. In time, however, the shouts subsided, and upon their
emergence from the tower, the couple seemed quite content to
marry and to rule jointly.
It is strongly suspected that this ploy was the invention of the two
advisers of the Rivan Warder, a strange pair whom history has never
identified. Both wore the traditional grey cloaks of the Rivans, but
no distinguishing badges or crests. The man was grizzled and grey,
and seemed quite fond of sharing a bottle or two with the common
soldiery The woman was strikingly handsome with an imperious
presence. As one Tolnedran General remarked, 'She carries herself
more like an Emperor than the Emperor himself.'
Following the unification of the two houses by the marriage of the
Mimbrate Prince Korodullin and the Asturian Princess Mayaserana,
the nation lived in peace and outward harmony. The Asturians
returned to their lands and lived in relative peace with their
Mimbrate neighbors. It was during this period that a rather intricate
dueling code was developed whereby disputes could be settled
directly between two contending parties without plunging entire
districts into war.
The time of peace, which followed unification profited Arendia
enormously. Fortunes have been made from the abundant wheat
harvests, and there has been a greater supply of good bread in the
nations of the west than ever before. It is, however, characteristic of
the people that much of this wealth has been poured into
fortifications and arms. Apparently, Arendish nobles believe in their hearts
that the peace is only temporary and, as always, they prepare for
war.
The present King of Arendia, Korodullin XXIH, is a somewhat
sickly young man who has sat upon the throne at Vo Mimbre for
little more than a year.
NOTE
It has been observed by certain breeders of livestock that a strain is
severely weakened by too much inbreeding. It is unfortunately true that
the touchy political situation in Arendia makes it mandatory that all
members of the Royal Family of Arendia marry as closely within the
blood'line as possible without violating the universal laws forbidding
incest. The centuries of cousin-marriage have undoubtedly accentuated
defects which would have been quite easily washed-out by the influx
of new blood.
Arendia