text: While it's entirely possibly that you'd come out of this thing alive, (You've certainly been through worse) there's little guarantee that anyone else will. If you're going to keep your "rescuers" alive, you'll need to be unhindered.
  
  "What're you doing?!" Jennifer asks as you leap on a horse.
  "I'm getting off this thing, and I suggest if you don't want to be a big target you will too, there's another horse here, jump on it and we'll unhitch the wagon!"
  
  Sensing that you're going to do this whether she likes it or not, she realizes that she doesn't really have a choice. She jumps on a horse and you take your sword and cut the harness. You tell Jennifer that she should order everyone else to concentrate their gunfire to the left.
  
  "Where are you going now?!"
  "I'm going to take care of the ones on the right!" you shout and ride in their direction.
  
  The orcs are so agitated about you heading directly towards them, they practically stop focusing on the caravan and begin firing arrows at you. Of course you anticipated such a thing and cast a shield to protect you and your horse. With your other hand you spray a cone of cold on the orcs closest to you, freezing them quite literally in their tracks.
  
  This feat of magic is enough to cause the orcs to attempt to rear up their boars and change direction back towards attacking the caravan. Others are undeterred and continue to head toward you with large weapons in hand. You aim your next spell at their boars, which consists of a couple fire blasts. The pigs go up in a blaze and soon so do their riders who end up dropping their weapons in an attempt to beat out the flames.
  
  You turn your attention at the orcs who decided to attack the caravan instead. At first glance the expedition crew have held their own fairly well considering none of them seem to be warriors and they seem to have fended off most of the orcs on the left side. However you see orcs getting the best of a couple of them when they close the gap and begin jumping onto the wagons.
  
  You ride back to the caravan and put your own combat skills good use. Orcs may be fierce and unrelenting fighters sometimes, but without the heavy armor that you remember they used to wear for the Empire, they get killed as easily as anyone else if you're skilled enough, and you're more than skilled enough. As you battle the orcs, the remaining expedition crew tries to help, though you're nearly shot a couple of times in the process. You end up yelling at them to stop "helping" you before you start firing at them with something a lot more accurate.
  
  Soon after you've killed your last orc after hopping from wagon to wagon, you hear Jennifer shouts to everyone that you've won and the rest have rode off. The caravan stops for a moment to take some time to clean up dead bodies on the wagons, and gather up any equipment that fell off during the fight.
  
  Jennifer comes up to you as you're cleaning off your own sword.
  
  "Well that was exciting to see a real Eternal in action! I knew we were going to be safe with you!"
  "Hmm, yeah well I almost wasn't safe with your people, because I nearly got shot a couple times!"
  "Yeah, sorry about that. Fear of the orcs actually on the wagons was probably causing higher nervousness than usual."
  "You should get some soldiers on these trips. Then at least you'd have some people who actually know how to fight when things get a little close."
  "We do have soldiers, can't you tell by the uniforms?"
  
  Honestly you hadn't really paid much attention to the fact that several of the people on this expedition crew do have similar outfits. It's just regular clothing though, none of it is proper armor, light or heavy. You also now notice that the firearms are much different too, namely they can fire multiple shots before being reloaded. A very handy improvement indeed.
  
  You realize that time has definitely marched on, it would seem that shooting someone with a rifle or pistol is the order of the day. Not much use for the old armor if that's indeed the case. Still, you're also reminded of the Felkans and their over reliance of such weapons. It would seem the Nalin Republic has the same technological disease. And these people are the supposed "successors" of the Empire.
  
  "Guns." You say shaking your head.
  "What's wrong with guns? You don't think they're honorable or something?" Jennifer asks.
  "No, I believe they are very useful and it would be foolish to not employ such weapons of fantastic destruction during battle and war. I just have a problem with the reliance of them in place of natural combat skill, because one day you're going to run out of bullets and then you see who the real soldier is."
  "How is using a gun any different from casting down lightning from your fingers or throwing fireballs around?"
  "It isn't in the scheme of things. I just said I don't have a problem with gunpowder weapons. However you also noticed I didn't just toss around magic like I had unlimited energy either. I used it when it was needed and engaged in close combat for the rest of them. I could've easily just rained down a firestorm and wiped out all of the orcs, but that would've taken out the caravan too. Something I'm sure nobody wanted. The Empire used firearms AND magic during the Felkan War, but individually the soldiers were still some of the toughest warriors you'd ever want to face. The Felkans soon learned that fatal fact. Perhaps if their soldiers still had the formidable close combat skills of an Empire soldier, they might not have lost so many battle when physical prowess was needed."
  
  Jennifer doesn't debate your views or experience, she just thanks you again for your help and you're soon underway. The rest of the journey is relatively silent.
  
  Eventually you arrive in the Nalin Republic. The landscape here is more like you remember, though it isn't until you get towards the capital of Dalt that you start seeing a resemblance to civilization, but even that's different when it comes to the architecture and such. You get a few stares from passing citizens.
  
  Jennifer and you disembark from the wagons when you arrive at Quintus' house, or rather his very large mansion, which has guards posted at the gates. Honestly it's the closest thing resembling the Empire you've seen since you got here.
  
  "You wait here, I'll have to speak with Quintus about all this first. While I'm sure he'll really want to see you, there is protocol to follow."
  "Sure, do whatever it is you have to do, I'm not going anywhere, but who is this Quintus anyway?"
  "Quintus Arillicus is one of the most influential leaders in the senate and as I've already mentioned an admirer of old Empire history, but he'll tell you more when you meet him."
  
  As Jennifer walks through the gates, you're left standing around with a few guards who give you the stares that you've come to expect from everyone. You wait for about ten minutes before you begin to wonder why you're even entertaining this again.
  
  Then you remember, it's because you don't have much else to do right now. Though you're wondering what place you're going to have in this new world. You imagine that maybe you could be a soldier again though it doesn't look like there's a war going on. Doesn't even look like this place is suffering from any discontent from the citizens, but then looks can be deceiving.
  
  Jennifer eventually comes back to the front gate and waves to come with her.
  
  "You can come in now. Quintus is very excited to see you!"
  
  At this point this Quintus better be just as impressive, because from what little you know of this guy, you're not nearly as excited to see him.
  
  You and Jennifer walk into the mansion and while it's certainly fancy and has a design style similar to Empire architecture, it isn't nearly as extraordinary as the first time you saw the Emperor's palace. Of course you're a harder sell from those old days. Jennifer and you enter what is apparently a conference room. She says that he shouldn't be long and you both take a seat at the table.
  
  Soon a middle-aged man walks into the room with some guards, but he dismisses them at the door so that you three can be alone. He's dressed in an older style suit that looks more like those you remember Empire bureaucrats wearing and carries a staff of some sort with him. He also wears several rings. You sense that they all might be magical.
  
  Either way you fail to be impressed, just as you suspected you would be. Quintus on the other hand, now that he sees you in person, he's very impressed.
  
  "I never believed in all these years... all the digging... all the research... everything. And none of what I've found compares to this! Yes! This is indeed a glorious day! A real live Eternal! Not just any Eternal either, but the one who served the Emperor himself!" Quintus exclaims as he sits down across from you.
  
  "Now let me stop you right there. I know you're all excited and shit, but for me this is going into unknown territory. Possibly even enemy territory. I have no idea WHAT exactly you want with me. I'm going to tell you right now though if you're thinking of putting me in some sort of museum or some weird aristocratic version of a sideshow like they have at the fairs peasants go to you better get that idea out of your head right now."
  
  Jennifer tries to temper your words, but Quintus raises his hands as if no offense was taken.
  
  "It's alright. Our Eternal friend is quite right to be suspicious of me, but I can honestly tell him there is no reason for him to be because I think my goals will fit his honorable ideals. I'm still sure there is much he wants to know and questions that he has, but I will say that it is my hope that he and I will change history together!"
  
  Quintus and Jennifer try to get you fully up to speed on everything first... 
  > The Nalin Republic (Successor to the Empire)
  After hearing about the terrible state the rest of the former Empire is in, you ask about the land that managed to somewhat keep it together thanks to Brenda.
  
  Jennifer says that the cataclysm did hit Nalin, but it didn't change the landscape so much as it changed the weather patterns. For the longest time, Nalin was about as wet as Delerg was before most of that place just submerged under water. It got so rainy that the Usksha Desert actually started receding. After a hundred years of this, Nalin's territory grew just due to weather as the usksha nomads retreated deeper into their desert and border raids became non-existent.
  
  Meanwhile Nalin continued to slowly evolve. After Brenda's death, her second in command, Tarna, took power. She ruled much in the same way Brenda did, but not as wisely. She was considered far too authoritarian to an unreasonable degree and she did not have the charisma or respect to pull it off. There were even accusations that she had Brenda assassinated.
  
  Whatever the case, after a few decades of her rule, the general public had had enough her. There was a rebellion and she was violently disposed. At first an attempt to rule the Nalin Dominion by a small council of leaders, this worked for a while, but there were still problems with this. In time it was decided that the people wanted to be even better represented, it was around this time that the beginnings of the republic were truly born.
  
  The republic in its current form has lasted about two centuries, with alterations in certain procedures and laws here and there. During that time slavery has been completely done away with and there is trade with some of the more reasonable city-states in Arat. There is also trade with the recently re-emerged usksha nomads who apparently have formed their own new government of sorts called the Usksha Emirates.
  
  Population here is mostly human, though there are elves here as well. In fact it's about the only area where they're treated as full equals now. While kobolds were "assimilated" even during Brenda's time, they're still not entirely accepted by everyone despite most of them now being productive members of society. There are even a few usksha that have set up permanent shops and live within the republic. These oddities mostly live on the desert borders and are viewed with suspicion even if there is a peace with their people now. Quintus in particular believes they should go back to their desert and doesn't like the idea of them not being proper members of the republic since they don't adopt the language or customs.
  
  "Look, I don't have any problem with the sand savages on a personal level. I'm just saying that if they want to live in the republic, they should learn the language and adopt OUR culture! Even the kobolds make the effort! Of course most of those fat bastards in the senate are just concerned about is maintaining a good relation with the Usksha Emirates so they can line their pockets with the coin made from trade kickbacks. Not to mention all the drugs they allow to go through." Quintus
  "Drugs?" you ask.
  "Oh yes. You haven't been here long enough to see it, but despite the republic's veneer of peace there lies a very serious drug problem. The sand savages trade more than just their crystal trinkets and cloth. They deal in a drug known as sandman and make it out of a type of lizard creature that only exists in that desert of theirs. A basilisk I believe. It puts people in a sleep state to the point of near paralysis. I mean it's almost impossible to wake them up while they're under the influence. I guess it gives people really intense dreams that most really enjoy, because a lot of people get addicted. Of course a lot don't wake up either. It's a major problem yet it's not the only instance of the senate turning a blind eye to illegal substances coming into the country."
  "What else do the usksha bring in?"
  "Oh it isn't just the sand savages. It's also the pirates and smugglers from the Delerg islands. Besides attacking our pathetic excuse for a navy they sneak in that foul brew that makes people go blind. I have no idea why people even want the damn stuff when we have our own superior alcoholic beverages right here. It's this kind of moral degeneracy and apathy that's going to lead to our demise if we don't start doing something about it!"
  "Can't the military do something about this or maybe a police force? You ask.
  "Hah. Jennifer told me of your opinion on our military, and you're absolutely right. Most of them are not up to the task. They're not disciplined like they should be and they certainly don't have the most intensive training. I've read about how the Empire used to train its average ground troops. Our soldiers wouldn't last one day in that form of basic training. As for a police force, we do have the peacekeepers, but they're even less effective than the military mainly because they have limits on what they're allowed to do to citizens. Even if said citizen is behaving in a suspicious manner they can't do anything unless they've already slit the throat of some old woman for coin so they can go buy more sandman."
  
  You can certainly understand Quintus' frustration. The Empire had its share of problems, but maintaining order over the plebs wasn't one of them.
  
  "The senate is made up of a bunch of corrupt plutocrats who aren't interested in making Nalin better. As I said most of them are only in it for money. Others are just weak willed and go along with the crowd. A few are genuinely dangerous idealistic fools who want to introduce even more liberty amongst the populace! Can you believe that? This place needs more order not less!"
  
  You knew this "republic" concept sounded terrible when Jennifer first explained it to you. Looks like you were right.
  
  "We've become lax and complacent! The orcs of the Quala Badlands are only going to grow in numbers. How long before their numbers become too unmanageable? How long before the Usksha decide to backstab us while we allow them to infiltrate our borders? How long before the svelk unite the six cities and become a power to be feared? How long before the Xi Hive consumes us all?"
  
  Quintus continues ranting, you get the impression he's given a similar speech to the senate on many occasions.
  
  "We should be growing stronger by expanding! Instead we're just rotting on the inside! Even our research in new technology has become stagnant! The gnomes are ahead of us in this way and if the rumors are true, so is the city state of Telis!"'
  "What about magic power?" you ask.
  "Well, even since the cataclysm, magic isn't very common anywhere anymore. In fact as far as I know the only place that does have it is the city state of Lenay and even then the svelk only have it to a limited degree. If it weren't for me, we wouldn't have anything at all. I've been funding all these expeditions in the hopes of unearthing powerful magic weapons of the old Empire, but other than the few personal rings you see me wearing, this staff and a few other things I have locked away, I haven't had much luck. I've even tried getting a magic school started in the hopes that perhaps there are some latent mages or perhaps a hedge wizard out there, but the idea was dismissed as a waste of public funds."
  
  Quintus goes on about the failings of the republic for quite some time, but it all is sort of boring you. The republic is a weak inefficient state that coddles its citizens and is run by corrupt fools. You got it the first time. Jennifer told you Quintus was influential, but so far all you've heard is a lot of his failures to get things accomplished.
  
  You certainly hope he's got a better plan of action than just whining.