Prologue: Seeds of War
January, 1109
"We must be quick now; if the rumors are true it is customary for us to greet them" Man In Blue said as he lead his companion towards the harbor. Rumors had been circulating for a long time of a new magic faction coming to the Island of Ordos. No one quite knew the reason though; perhaps it was another group looking to escape the mainland and live where magic users were accepted; after all, Ordos was one of only a tiny handful of places where magic users could openly live in peace with normal people.
For the Colormen though, this meant one thing: a real potential for danger now existed. This faction could be friendly, or hostile, and as the sworn protectors of Ordos it was their responsibility, by royal decree nonetheless, to protect the island and its inhabitants from all threats of any kind. "We haven't the power to turn them away, but the king must be informed of any threat to the island, if it exists" Man In Red nodded in agreement. The two finally made their way to the harbor, and the sight was amazing: at least two dozen ships had arrived, and a few hundred men, from teenagers to elders, all wearing matching robes of various adornments had congregated. Some talked among themselves, others interacted with the Ordosians, and some were "showing off" their power.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Ordos, behold! The power of the Masteri!" One mage declared. And with gestures of his hand, people gasped at the sight before them: a man of solid stone, a man of solid ice and a man of solid lava all seemed to "march" off the ship and stand in a line.
"Now rest assured everyone; the ice and fire golems have auras around them that mitigate the temperature difference so they are safe to approach in this state. We may be powerful but we wouldn't want our creations to hurt ourselves... or set our ships on fire for that matter" he said with a laugh.
The two colormen were amazed at what these mages were capable of... life seemed to be given to non-living materials! Curious, they two approached the assembled mages.
"Greetings; on behalf of the people of Ordos, we welcome you to our island" Man In Blue said first.
"Hey, look everyone, gawkers!" A young mage said as his friends joined him. "Admiring our work? Finest in the world, it is!" he said with a boast.
"It is interesting, yes, but not nearly the reason we want to talk" Man In Red explained.
"Oh, too intimidated by our power for words?" the mage said with a laugh as his friends joined him.
"Not at all... we simply wish to get to know you" Man In Blue explained.
"Buzz off, old man! If you wanna learn about the Masteri, you gotta be Masteri" the young mage said, brushing off the two.
"I don't think you understand..." Man In Red began.
"I said beat it! Or do I need to show you what I'm capable of" he said as he began manipulating his hands and had some golems approach the two. Things looked bad, until...
"Martinus, enough!" A voice snapped, forcing the young mage to back down. An older mage with more decorated robes approached, "How dare you try to start a fight in the middle of the town; I don't care how powerful you think you are you will not fight anyone we are not at war with" he declared.
"Ugh, you are such a killjoy Master Alabaster" Martinus sighed, and made his golems go into a sort of "sleep mode" before the one called Alabaster dismissed the group.
"I hope you'll forgive them; regretfully "Masteri Arrogance" is quite contagious. I'm Alabaster, a first degree master mage of the Order of Masteri" he said as he extended out his hand.
"I am the Man In Blue; and this is Man In Red. We are representatives of the Colormen, and have come to greet you" Man In Blue said, finding his courtesy to be quite refreshing.
"Why come all this way to do so?" Alabaster asked.
"We are the faction appointed by the King of Ordos himself to protect this island; and as such we are bound by royal decree to welcome all magic newcomers to this island and explain how things work if you with to join our population" Man In Red explained.
"And that would be?" Alabaster asked.
"Note that you are quite lucky to find yourselves here; we are one of only a handful of places where magic users practice openly and coexist with non-practitioners" Man In Blue explained.
"That being said, you are still bound by the same laws as everyone else, and the king does reserve the right to have your faction arrested if said laws are broken" Man In Red added.
"I see. Well I shall need to meet with my fellow masters and see to it we follow Ordosian law then. I don't suppose you can help us though" Alabaster asked.
"What is it?" Man In Blue asked.
"You would not happen to know if there is a free castle or hall we could use as a base, do you? As you can see there are about 500 of us so we need quite a bit of space" Alabaster said.
The two colormen looked at each other and nodded before responding, "as a matter of fact, there is one castle that should meet your needs; the magic faction that used to own it left for the mainland some years ago and is still in good shape" Man In Blue explained
"If you wish, we shall get you a map of the island and show you where it is" Man In Red offered.
"Oh, thank you, this will save us so much trouble" Alabaster said in relief.
"I'm sure the king will not mind you taking ownership of it; we will let him know of your faction's arrival. Come now, let us show you around" Man In Blue offered.
Though Man In Blue and Man In Red had hoped for friendly relations with the Order of Masteri, little did they know that Alabaster was the only pleasant man in the whole faction, and dark times were only a few months away.
......
The Masteri had settled into their new home, and a meeting of the highest ranking members was taking place. "So the rumors are true then... not only is this island populated by a variety of magic factions, but one in particular calls themselves the "sworn protectors" of this island" one said in observation.
"Then taking them down will no doubt prove our strength to the world!" A second declared proudly.
"Patience now. I as much as you want to go and fight these Colormen, but a full effort is better than a half effort. We will build up our army of golems, THEN attack the Colormen and take control of this island" the lead declared.
Declarations of agreement came across the table... but one mage was not so sure. "Brothers... we must reconsider" he said in defiance.
"Alabaster, your conviction is as weak as ever. Might makes right as I say, so we must prove ourselves the strongest, as we have done many a times on the mainland" the first one said boastfully.
"And just what HAVE we proven? We have had to move 10 times in the past 12 years because of the Masteri's insistence on being aggressive to outsiders. Yes, we have destroyed many factions, but at what cost? Everywhere we go, we wound up being exiled or chased away because our actions paint us as the bad guys" Alabaster argued. "Face it Brakan, this way of life will only lead to self ruin" he finished.
"Self ruin?! We are feared, not hated!" Braken stated with typical Masteri arrogance. But Alabaster shook his head.
"It is clear the Colormen are a much-loved faction here; destroying them will no doubt turn the whole island against us" Alabaster said calmly.
"Then we shall fight the whole island if we must!" Braken stated. "The magma, ice and stone here is top notch according to our scouts; with such resources we will be unstoppable" Brakan declared.
This was the tipping point for Alabaster; he would have none of this. "I do not let my arrogance cloud my judgement, and I can see that this is a foe we cannot fight blindly against, and see victory unscathed. Do what you want, but I will have no part of this war" he said in defiance before standing up and leaving the room.
"Alabaster, wait!" one mage said, about to follow.
"Save it, Dagronar. Alabaster always was of weak conviction. Now, let us go gather materials to make Golems. We will create so many that the mere sight of our army will make them plea for mercy!" Brakan declared.
While Dagronar was more arrogant than Alabaster, even he still had some of his comrades' level-headed traits that made him less arrogant than the others. He left the room to pursue Alabaster.
He found the mage in his room, packing.
"Alabaster, don't tell me" Dagronar said in shock.
"I see you all as brothers, but these last two weeks I have interacted with the Colormen and I already know how this war will turn out... when it happens" Alabaster said, putting his things into sacks.
"I don't understand" Dagronar said in confusion.
"The Colormen are no ordinary faction. They are intellectual mages, valuing knowledge and skill over material gain and wealth. They demonstrated some of their power, and they know spells I... we have never even seen before, or would even think of, for that matter. There's no question... a war with them will not end well... for us." Alabaster said.
"You can't be serious" Dagronar declared.
"I am, and my mind is made. If the brothers want war, so be it. But I will not throw away my life for a cause I do not support. I will always treasure my time here, and I only hope that this damn Masteri Arrogance disappears before its too late" Alabaster said as his packed his final few things.
"Well... I wish you the best Alabaster. And I hope that should you return... you will see that these efforts were not in vain" Dagronar assured.
"Only time will tell" Alabaster said, before shaking Dagronar's hand and proceeding to leave Masteri castle. Reasoning that the rest of Masteri could see his leaving as betrayal, he decided for his own safety it was probably best to leave the island. Before he did though, he decided he needed to give Ordos' sworn protectors fair warning about what was to come.
......
Some days later, a letter arrived at the Great Hall of the Colormen. The Council of 12 received it and its contents were... grim, to say the least.
Colormen of Ordos,
As you are aware, the Masteri have come to your home island. I have no doubt that you were hoping for peaceful relations, but as a former high ranking mage of the Order, I must warn you this is not the case. My Order has an... unfortunate history of attacking other factions, regardless of their moral alignment. The Masteri have a mentality that can only be described as "might makes right" and they believe that to be the best, they must be the strongest and dominate over all. And by dominating over all, they say their actions are therefore just. But this is not the case- they leave only destruction in their wake, and I fear what will become of your island. I can't say for certain when they will strike, and I can't say what the exact plans are, but know this: You are now being targeted by them, and you should be prepared for battle at any moment.
I wish I could be of more help, but I have left the island for my own safety since I am probably now viewed as a traitor to my brothers. I wish you the best, and hope that you can limit the destructon that will be caused by the Order of Masteri.
Regards,
AlabasterThe Council of 12 were shocked, but decided against preemptive striking on the grounds that the letter alone was not conclusive evidence.
"Let us wait it out and see what they do; observe them and take note of what they do, but no espionage. Observe, but do not act unless in self defense" Man In Black proposed.
"All in favor?" Man In Blue asked as the 12 nodded.
I shall take charge of those duties" Man In White said as he stood up and put on his helmet.
"What do we do?" Man In Gray asked.
"The only thing we can do... wait and see what happens" Man In Blue declared.