A Descent to Madness
Evern IV Wilipi, called Iv by his friends who had known him as Ivin Daofin[1] before he took on the ceremonial name, was quite the chiseled man. Yet, more darkely, he was quite the paranoid and borderline insane man. I should know, I raised him from his Padg[2] to his shining steel. He railed against the people of Guangfei, calling them slippery, no good Ginks. Har har har, he was quite an energetic lad, taking great pleasure in cutting out the toungues of heretics and torturing unrepentant Oneists[3]. I blame his dark demeneor on the abuse he suffered from his father. Ah, physical abuse, the gift that keeps on giving.
-Excerpt unearthed from the diary of Grand High Bladetrainer Revon, the Horribly Humored
Iv cowered in the corner as his enraged father was angrily blustering about, screaming his head off about stalling in the Otarian[4] campaign. In the end this would be blamed on him and he knew it. Forbidden tears rolled down is face. His father turned to him and grabbed the small chain on the end of his throne. He vengeful gaze turned towards Iv, and Iv braced himself for the impact, swallowing a scream that could never exist, and weeping uncontrollable tears that only served to make the pain worse…….
The Ascendant Master snapped out of his flashback and found himself on the throne in his grand and glorious palace. Some breeder had been blithering on about a strain of Albinoism in some Bigjaurs and how action should be taken. But now the whole court stared at him, and he tasted a salty liquid upon his lips. He realized he was crying. Iv became enraged that the whole court would stare at him so. The breeder was the first who would feel his wrath.
“HERETIC!” Iv cried out, extending his finger of death at the perplexed breeder. “The Blademaster grants me tears so my eyes may see the truth. This man, and his entire family, are Oneists spies!” The room gasped. Iv lept from his chair and drew the royal sword. In 3 leaps he came to the now shocked Breeder man. “REPENT YOUR SINS HERETIC!” The breeder stuttered “I repent Holy One”. Iv then ran his blade through the stomach of the breeder. It emerged red and dripping from his back. “I leave it to the Blademaster to decide your fate." Iv looked up to his shocked court, “Fools, clean this mess up, and let those Albino Bigjaurs live. What care have I for a few white mongrels? Oh, and sent in the Gink Ambassador, that slanty eyed Panda Boy, so that I may look as he cowers in my presence. I cannot threaten him to his face, but even he has enough sense to know his life is forfeit if his country betrays us.” Calmer now, Iv took his perch back on his throne.
Iv loved his Bigjaur pup, Schmeg, and played with him every night. He hated having to use him as a lie, but Iv had so wanted to see the parts of the Ayrien captial city his father would never let him see. The lower classes, the bars and the brothels, to find out if the rumored Valin-girls[5] really existed and to see whether it was really true that Ardanese men prefered the "company" of other men and young boys. Iv kept his blade close in case one of those Ardanese came close to him. To find all this out though, he had needed to lie and tell his father he was training with Schmeg. It turned out that the lower classes really weren't that interesting, that the bars and the brothels here weren't much different here than in Swade, and that his other two questioned were answered with a disturbing yes. But when Iv returned to where they were staying, he found his father glowering in the doorway. "Where were you Iv?". Hoping he could get away with it, Iv cursed the studder that precede his affirmation of his lie "Why...why...why..I was with Schmeg". "Really?" Taunted his father, "then why was i able to do this?". With a wholely unwarranted flourish, Iv's father threw the severed head of Schmeg at the feet of Iv. "Son, lies bring only death, look at the Emorians". With a laugh he strode away, as Iv stood there in shock, afraid someone would notice he wet himself.....
Iv woke up sweating. He washed his face in the bucket next to him and put on his robes. He fastened his ceremonial sword to his belt and made off for the strategic command meeting. Before he entered the chamber, he asked the guard what the status of the Otarian campaign was. He instructed him to answer him truthfully. "Well, your Holiness, it has made good progress and extreminated all Oneists below the line of control, but there has been a pause. Something about Toga wearing martial artists and exploding rum bottles." "Thank you, guard, the Blessings of the Blademaster upon you."
Iv then strode into the chamber, and his general rose. One by one they went through their reports, about how the Myocacan Oneists and the Sintonian Oneists were dead, about how the Veritas Campaign had been a complete sucess and how the temple building went. Last, but not least, Iv turned to the Otarian High Commander. A hold-over from his father's regime, he had always expected this old man held back in their meetings. "Report Warmaster."
"Your Holiness, the front is meeting no resistance, the island will fall in weeks. Leave it to me." In a fluid strike, the ceremonial sword at Iv's side lodged itself in the neck of the Warmaster. Unfortunatley, since it was purely ceremonial, it stuck there. Iv had to hack 5 more times for the head to come completely off. Now that the room was christened in blood, Iv wiped some gore off his face and spat upon the body. "Lies bring only death."
A lesson had been taught today. Iv called in the guard who had told him the truth. "What is you name guardsman?" "I am Ioúdas Iskáriōth," he said without a studder. "Ioúdas, you are the Warmaster of the Otarian front". Ioúdas dropped to his knees and Iv blessed and anointed[6] him with the bloody sword.
Iv was in the royal procession through the streets of Swade. A 500 person Retinue struck him as unneeded, but what his father wanted, his father got. Iv looked around at the devoted people who would bow down to him as though he were the Blademaster himself. As he walked though, he saw a starving beggar boy much his own age. Iv stopped and gave this boy 5 Swaderis and a leg of Chikin from Iv's food pouch. The boy looked overjoyed and was thanking Iv when something struck Iv hard in the back. Iv fell to his knees. He spun around to face this attacker, but it was his Father. His Father picked up the 10 year old Iv by his throat and held him 2 feet in the air. "Insolent fukinshiteeb1tchspawn[7], you stoop to the level of beggars. I demand you kill this boy, or I shall kill you both." The angered Ascendant Master tossed Iv to the ground. Reluctantly Iv drew his sword, and with such remorse cut down the Beggar Boy. He lay bleeding in the Alleyway. It was the first person Iv had ever killed. The blood pooled around his feet and he resisted the urge to vomit. His Father stood over him, "You have learned a lesson today. You must either put the poor to work or conscript them. Idle Swade have murderous Blades. I will only flog you 30 times since you have partially rectified your sin." The lashes later that night didn't hurt nearly as much as the pain of the memory of that child lieing motionless on the ground....
Iv was pacing his chambers. The world was against him. His father had purified his allies, and now they hated Iv. Everyone planned against him, they all plotted. The ginks, the filthy, heretical Valin, the boy-humping Ardanians, even the once friendly Myocacan's weren't answering his diplomacy. He ruled the strongest Swade Ascendancy in history, and it was already crumbling. He would stop that at all costs. No price was to big too pay. But how. He presided over the largest religion in the world, yet his devotees rejected his fathers Holy Doctrine. He would win this war then with only heaten, yet loyal, Khemri at his side. Gorin might contribute something, but they could barely even deal with a tiny pony people revolt. They were useless.
Iv had to think of ways he could win the war within and without. His coffers may have had little gold, but he would win a war bought with souls and blood money. Yes, like the raging Ramid in mating season, he would rampage over all others. His followers would blanket the globe in his name. Yes, Yes YES! His father would be forgotten by history, mearly a foot note. He would organize everyone and everything towards this ultimate goal. The Oneists wouldbe wiped out, His allies would prosper, those who dared to betray him would be punished, and all would see he was not a madman like his father. No, Iv would be remembered as a Visionary, ushering in a new age for the Swade. If his path was paved with bodies, so what, they were not his. His yacht would simply sail the river of blood.
Plus, if he could control his populace so, the resentment that stewing about him could be quelled. After all, idle Swade had murderous blades. But what his father had forgotten to mention was that fighting Swade had victorious blade. Iv cackled at his turn of phrase.
The world would be within his hands. Iv was the boss now.
[1] Daofin being the Swade honorific meaning Crowned Prince
[2] The Padg is the first small and padded dagger a young toddler is given.
[3] Historians for centuries questioned the validity of that phrase, since all Oneists were supposedly killed on site. Then the discovery of the Slavers, those who would capture Oneists and bring them back to the ascendancy to be sold to the highest bidder, who could naturally do whatever they wanted with them.
[4] The Swade name for Exilisum(Chipland was a but tacky

)
[5] Shemale
[6] "anoited and blessed" is much like OTL Knighting
[7] Spiteful Swade curse word.