The Scourge of the Gods
From Create Your Own Story
Welcome to the fantasy realm of Philesidia, the most powerful Gods-fearing kingdom in the east. The land is beautiful, bountiful and fertile, composed of flat green pastures and rolling golden hills covered in acres of farmland, pastureland and vineyards. Small and well maintained pockets of forest are hunted in by powerful nobles for sport. Towns, villages and cities hum with newcomers from all over the civilised world, looking to find work in this blessed land. Merchants come from all directions to trade their exotic wares for your wines, cheeses, clothworks and grain. Noble and peasant alike live relatively well and happily in this prosperous time.
All of this bounty can be attributed almost directly to your royal dynasty, the Phanotikos - who have their roots in the Old West of the world. Your ancestors came to this land some 400 years ago as zealous crusaders, when this place was full of unwashed, godless pagan peoples. You slaughtered their warriors, drove off their kin and burned their tribes to the ground. Your family led the settlement of the now empty land and have profited greatly from their demise. Your family have ruled this land in an unbroken line of kings for 4 whole centuries, and in that time, no other force in the east has been able to muster up the strength to come across the deserts Great Red Waste and challenge you. "Our Pious Hand Rules Supreme", or so your family's words say.
Your father, the honourable and much beloved King Eidos III rules from the capital city of Teothis. Your mother, Chamea of the house Dephetros, bore your father three children. Firstly, your elder brother, Martyras, your father's heir and favoured child. Then she bore you, the Princess Athyma. Lastly, she bore your younger sister Taliporia.
This is the story of the last days of your house. The last days of your kingdom. And the last days of you, Royal Athyma, daughter of Eidos the Unready. I can tell you now that it will not end well. Many will suffer, and many will perish. You will be among them. Your fate is sealed in this words. All that is left is for you to decide how you face it...
You wake after a very fitful night of sleep. Even in your silken sheets and your light nightdress, you were sweating heavily though the night. You recall dreaming, but you can't remember what you were dreaming about. It must have been something troubling to have you in this state. You have not suffered night terrors since you were a small girl, and part of you fears that they might be returning. You sigh loudly and roll onto your side, holding your covers close to your chest. You stare towards the large window cut into the stone wall of your room and watch the translucent curtains gently billow in the morning wind as it blows through the slightly ajar window. The sun is already in the sky and the cloudless sky is a bright, unblemished blue. You normally awake long before your handmaidens arrive and read for a while before they have your washed and dressed, but you have slept for longer than you normally would and estimate that you do not have much time to yourself. You resolve to at least get up and stretch out your body before they arrive to get you ready for the day ahead.
