Since the Madness Wars, the Inner Kingdoms had settled into uneasy peace. A myriad little fiefdoms, baronies and would-be kings, all ostensibly paying lip-service (and taxes) to the high king, nestled together amongst the rolling hills and fertile plains that swept from the shimmering western ocean, to the frozen northern mountains, to the south-eastern deserts.<br/><br/>The mind's eye focuses on one such mini-kingdom. Content, not overly wealthy, stable, it mostly sold farmed goods to the nearest borders. Trading towns (rather humorously referred to as cities by the proud inhabitants) linked sprawling farming communities. The only trouble was the occasional raid from the bandits infesting the cluster of mountains to the north-east, and whatever might creep out of the spooky ruins that still dotted the landscape, cursed remnants of the Wars.<br/><br/>Let the mind's gaze focus again, on one such town... bustling, content, filled with people most of whom had never travelled more than twenty miles from home... other than the traders and mysterious travellers, of course, hard-faced men and women hunting their fortune one way or another.<br/><br/>Focus again... there's something different here today. The cages in one corner of the town square usually held thieves and drunkards troublesome enough to actually get the town watch to pay attention. One of the cages has more of a crowd around it... a hulking, green-skinned humanoid glares back at the silent watchers.<br/><br/>There's a sense of expectation in the air today. A feeling that something might be beginning. Destiny, or doom... too early to tell.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>