Valledia stepped onto the terrace of her "palace". No more than a woodman's cot, Valledia thought, and she was once more reminded of the days of old. The days when Kylorin had come among them and became to them a teacher, a father, a lord of high prowess and great skill. The days of days when the Amurites grew from mere Adepts of the great Archmage to Lords themselves. Yet as she gazed on the rough cut steps in front of her gate the resolve hardened in her: Those days shall be restored ! In fact she would have given all the fair places with all the palaces of the world for the return, nay even for a single glance of Kylorin. The happening of this was unlikely however, if not impossible - only the Gods may know where Kylorin now is. So Valledia broke of her dreaming and came back to the living world, where she had to care with all that was left of the Amurites, and especially with the one thing that might bring back the glory of Kylorin: his strands of magic genius he had planted in every of his children.
In those days the Amurites had built their city upon the banks of the river, with rich fields that waited for new masters. There were tribes in the wilderness, wandering and gathering, living and dieing. When Valledia sent out scouts these tribes wre friendly, but not willing to join the Amurites: They have a life and a fate of their own, and none in Erebus might mingle with it. Yet they gave gifts as a token of friendship, and as they talked together they also told the Amurites some of their own world.
These tribes are were a remnant of the men of old which had wandered in the lands long time before. These men believed that they were set into the world by gods, or as they called them, "the Great". Through twisted tales and history preserved as those they Amurites gathered that there was a God for each province, which could be seen or felt only by the most learned and skilled in the lore of the divine. As Valledia was eager to follow every trace that would bring her people nearer to Kylorin again she accepted to send a child to those tribes so he should learn all that they could teach. And so the Amurites obtained from those steadfast men their first piece of knowledge in this new world...
One of the great strenghts Kylorin had taught the Amurites was organization. Now, as things were, these lessons were not wholly forgotten, yet there were too few of the Amurites to really divide work. So Valledia thought it would be best for the time being to concentrate all powers in one place...
As the swift years after the Age of Ice went by the Amurites prospered, yet strange news reached their ears from time to time. There was a first hint that the slumber of peace the Amurites had known now for long would not last forever. Tales of hordes of evil creatures were whispered, and even of fell beasts seeking for plunder and riches...
And just as the Amurites had brought knowledge about the nearer surroundings and get to know the ways of the wild a little they were caught at unawares by a terror they had not expected:
So the first blood was spilt, and the first mourning was heard at the gates of Valledia's Palace. Yet if they had learned one thing in the bitter years it was the following: That giving up is not an option.
Imhotep
sorry for the delay
