Stray
The Tale of Iuselia
Recounted by Luceia Fer’Re
Long ago in an era of antiquity, there was a bitter feud between two noble families. A house of light against a house of dark.
Neither side would be satisfied until the other had ceased to be. And so, the conflict lasted for centuries upon centuries.
This struggle finally came to an end when, one day, the house of dark’s defenses were rendered compromised by an unidentified traitor from within. In the night that came to follow, the house of light infiltrated the grounds and burnt them to ashes, leaving no survivors.
Following their victory, the house of light would find that they had recieved a most unexpected visitor. Iuselia, said to be the eldest daughter of the house’s matriach, had returned after what was explained as travels abroad to fellow cities of their people.
Having now returned home, Iuselia would begin her training as a knight pledged in service to the house.
Iuselia learnt fast and was initiated swiftly, soon entering active duty to her mother and matriach.
In time, war would reach Iuselia’s homeland. The capital was represented by a warrior who had previously departed the city after despairing of the inner conflict that had wracked it in recent centuries, having returned in the hope of persuading his people to join the side of his newfound allies whom were carving a trail of victory across the continent.
Iuselia was soon assigned to this warrior’s contingent by her house in the hope that the war could end the schism that continued to plague the nation.
Iuselia’s warrior captain, now a lord by order of the crown, departed his homeland with his newly formed contingent of soldiers and began leading them to the front lines.
However, before the contingent could even arrive, the army at large was devestated by a struggle that was greater than any they had known prior to that point, leaving the newly appointed warrior lord without allies to whom he could return.
Despite the loss of his allies, the warrior lord did not return home just yet. Realizing that he was still capable of waging war against the enemies of his homeland, the warrior lord led his soldiers into battle nontheless and began to achieve many victories in the name of his people.
As Iuselia’s mother and matron had hoped, war indeed brought unity to their people.
But on this battlefield, heritage was law. In the eyes of the crown, alleigences were determined by blood and could never be changed, save by becoming an enemy.
And so, the warrior lord earned their ire and that of the nobility at large when he forged an alliance with a former enemy in order to combat an even greater enemy.
Back home, Iuselia’s house was thrown into discontent when the matriach voiced her approval of the warrior lord’s actions. On the other hand, the youngest of the matriach’s two daughters were deeply affronted by the warrior lord’s choice of allies and aghast by their mother’s stance on the issue.
This became a moot point when the matriach died of a sudden illness days later. In her eldest daughter’s absence, the second of her daughters became “temporary” matriach.
The second daughter would remain in the position until such a time as Iuselia was able to return to the capital and take her place as the rightful successor.
Upon the warrior lord’s arrival at the capital, he was called before his sovereigns and sentenced to execution on the morrow for both his choice in allies and in faith.
When Iuselia returned to her house, she would discover that her younger sister and “temporary” matriach had just recently uncovered a document signed by their late mother which stipulated that it was in fact the second of her daughters who was next in line to the house, not the first daughter as had been expected, meaning that the second daughter’s “temporary” position as matriach had just been rendered permanent. The late matriach’s one son, however, accused their newly appointed matriach of treachery.
The late matriach’s son denied the validity of the document upon which his second sister based her claim to the house, declaring that it had been forged in order to cement her position. Furthermore, he accused the new matriach of assassinating their mother in the first place in order to enable her subsequent rise to power.
Without proof, however, these remained but baseless accusations. The newly appointed matriach charged their brother with slander and ordered Iuselia to execute him on the spot. As Iuselia had pledged loyalty to the house itself, not to any one person, whoever was currently in charge of the house was Iuselia’s liege by default. Therefore, it was an order that Iuselia was honour bound to obey, no matter what. However, Iuselia was saved from having to carry out the order when her brother used his talents as a bard in order to vanish right before the room’s very eyes.
Iuselia’s brother fled his homeland after that and never returned. Some say he eventually found love in a faraway country.
Although her brother had escaped, Iuselia was troubled nontheless. She had been mere seconds away from striking him down for speaking what she strongly suspected was the truth. She had become a mere hound of a mistress to whom her honour and her pride meant less than nothing, her owner deeming her to be naught but a commodity to be used and thrown away as she saw fit.
Iuselia’s new liege sent her out in pursuit of her brother in order to complete the order which she had been moments away from fulfilling prior to his escape. This led Iuselia beyond her homeland and into the world at large, yet she found no trace of her brother, no matter where she looked. Yet there was a constant in all the places that she visited.
No matter where Iuselia went, she found assassins at every turn, waiting to catch her off-guard. She suspected that they had been sent by her house’s matriach in order to get her out of the way before the basis for her claim to power came under too great a scrutiny. That way, even if her document was exposed as a forgery, she would still have right of succession, just so long as her older sister was dead.
Eventually, Iuselia was able to defeat one of the assassins whilst still leaving them alive for questioning. Her worst suspicions were realized. Iuselia’s own house had indeed ordered her demise. And yet, Iuselia still remained bound by her word nontheless. Although her house had proven themselves her enemy, she could not become an enemy in kind. For this reason, Iuselia continued her search for her brother, yet still finding no trace of him wherever she went.
Back in Iuselia’s homeland, her house had attracted the attention of rival families who noted it’s weakness now that there was only one direct heir present to take control in the event that it’s current matriach were no more.
A purge ensued that only Iuselia and her brother survived, the house’s rivals seeking to remove the family in one fell swoop.
Iuselia had now been robbed of everything. Her home, her comrades in arms, the pride she was to defend. Only hatred remained.
She was a stray, no longer bound by chains of loyalty.
stargrace 
Things have been a little quiet in EQ2 as of late. Quiet isn’t bad per say, but it’s just different (for me at least). Battlegrounds have been pretty much down since release, a lot more then they’ve been up. I’m sad but not surprised by this. They were down all weekend, and hopefully, maybe, if we all wish really hard, they’ll be up some time soon. I, however, will not be holding my breath.