Kingdom Lost

Episode 2

An Island Nation

Once upon a time, an island had a good king who cared about his people. King Alaric had written codes for living, the Precepts of the King. These precepts were for the benefit of all people. Safe ways to prepare and preserve foods, how legal judgments should be determined, funds to give to the poor, widows, and orphans, and how to leave portions of crops in fields so hungry people could glean enough food to live. They required celebrations of remembrance to remember and honor things for which they were thankful. Travelers from foreign lands were to be respected and treated justly.

King Alaric established Preceptors to teach these rules to the people and ensure that justice and fair dealings were routine for the kingdom. He directed that a family lineage would be called Illuminators, scroll keepers to record the nation's histories. They were responsible for protecting all the kingdom's records. King Alaric longed for his people's freedom, life, and prosperity. No statues of the king were to be made, and no great monuments were built except for the Sanctuary in the center of Esalens, the capital city. He had remained secluded from the people, leaving them to live well by following the precepts. If the people and royal servants followed the precepts, there would be peace, enough for everyone, and the nation of Welleck would be a model society throughout the world.

The Sanctuary was intended to be a refuge where people could enter for solitude, rest, and understanding. An old tree, large and spreading, grew on the west side of the building. There, people could recline and rest in the shade. None could remember when or who planted it. Access to the king had been generous to many, who could communicate with him through the Shell of Connection. Those who desired close personal counsel from the King were granted their own shells, but few seemed to have need. The King trusted the people to make good choices, and they could consult the Precepts of the King or ask Preceptors when questions or uncertain situations arose. The King had servants who assisted in the kingdom's management, including security for the people, but one of those servants, the Captain of the Guard, Keldar, began to consider what life would be like if he were king.

Keldar spent long nights imagining the kingdom's grandeur if only his ideas were implemented. An empire never seen before, with the land's riches put to productive use. He began to dream of a throne in the heart of the Sanctuary, perhaps even on top of the Sanctuary Core, where people could come before him and beg, well possibly, request his guidance and permission for matters of life. He carried an open dislike of what he considered ignorant common folk.

“Why do we slog along at this rural pace of life when we could be so much more?” Keldar said to his chief lieutenant. “Ships from other nations wander into our port with ornate woodwork, fantastic riches, and tales of wonderous lands where cities have houses reaching the sky. Us? We sell them some vegetables and water in exchange for a few trinkets!”

The lieutenant spoke carefully, “Do not the Preceptors teach that the King’s Precepts say to be content with enough and to cherish those around us is better than great riches?”

Rage flashed across Keldar’s scared face as he yelled, “That is only because the King hoards precious riches from the people and his servants!” Keldar then growled, “The good King Alaric,” spittle dripped from his lips, “wants all glory for himself and hides the truth from us. There is more to the world than this island, and by the gods, I will discover it!” Keldar gathered many guards and servants, convincing them to mutiny against the King. He was confident the conquest of the city would be a simple task.

The battle for the city lasted three days, and many on both sides fell to the sword. Keldar and the traitorous soldiers and servants were routed. He set himself up as a would-be prince in the outlands, vowing to defeat the King using any means possible. Thus began the War of the Ages on the island nation of Welleck.

One large mountain, Grangate, was towards the island's western side. A narrow rocky path led to the king's chateau, located on the upper western slope of the mountain. A granite wall surrounded the chateau, and the ends of the structure were carved into the granite of the mountain. It shone brilliant white in the midday sun, with quartz crystals sparkling like diamonds, but would shift to reds of scarlet, cinnabar, and crimson with the setting sun.

The city of Esalens unfurled down the mountain's base to the shore, where a sweeping breakwater protected a crescent-shaped harbor. The town had pastel colors on the plastered buildings and homes, all topped with blue tiled roofs. A thick granite wall, a remnant from ancient times, surrounded the entire city. The north and south inland ends merged into sheer cliffs on the northwest and southwest sides of the mountain. The other two ends culminated with watchtowers on each side of the harbor. Two large gates allowed access to the main road crossing through the city's center, one to the north and the other south. Two smaller gates flanked the harbor, next to the watchtowers, on the road that followed the coast. The second main road ran from the chateau wall’s gate to the harbor through the city's center.

The city of Esalens bustled with life. Potters, blacksmiths, cobblers, and coopers fashioned clay products, iron items, shoes, and barrels. The air carried aromas of toasted wheat and warm honey from the bakeries. The two open-air markets had various kinds of vegetables, fruits, grains, and beverages. There were cloth vendors, housewares, herbs, and spices. The four main roads intersected at a large, slightly elevated marble foundation with a white rectangular building atop. The East side of the building had a columned portico reaching thirty paces high. It was twenty paces wide with seating areas carved into the stone. The length of the building was forty paces. The entire structure looked as if it had been carved from one massive block of marble. The King’s chateau could be seen on the mountainside at the end of the straight-rising street.

The inscription across the top of the portico in old Welleckian read “Sanctuary of the King.” Long ago, most people approved to meet with the King could do so here. Although the Sanctuary was originally intended to be a refuge for anyone, the Preceptors only approved specific individuals to enter. They now promoted it as holy ground where only the most pious could enter. None remembered when it was built, but the legends say it was there from the beginning, chiseled by lightning from the sky. Across the road from the Sanctuary was the Gallery of Scrolls, where all the mandates and precepts of the King were recorded and secured along with the nation’s histories. Illuminators attended to all the country's records, including the Precepts of the King. Once per week, the Preceptors would select some passages and proclaim them to the people gathered before the portico. The number of participants had dwindled over the decades.?

Outside the city, around the island, were small villages and farms where crops were grown, with the excess being sent to the city markets. Stone masons, tree fallers, iron miners, and other resource gatherers worked around the island to supply the needs of the people. Fishing villages had developed around small, protected alcoves of the coast, with their stone structures and jetties contoured to the craggy cliffs.?? The people were asked to give a portion of their earnings to the King’s treasury to provide for growth, education, health, and safety of the people.

In the beginning, the words of the King were shared with all the people who received them joyfully. As the years passed, the people forgot the royal mandates and directives, becoming more interested in their personal lives and interests. The mutiny of Keldar shocked the people throughout the kingdom, leaving fear in the shadows of the streets and countryside. The meaning of the Precepts faded throughout the land. Many farmers, villagers, and fisherfolk doubted that the King remained. Keldar, the dark prince, took full advantage of this doubt, slipping seditious agents throughout the country. The Preceptors and Illuminators had started taking more of the people’s donations than was decreed, then declared a required tenth of all earnings, but no one dared to question them. Wealth, luxury, and power had become these leaders’ kings.

The entire island became dark and self-serving. People who used to share in their abundance hoarded all they could. Some did so out of fear of loss and deprivation, while others used the circumstances to gain wealth by rousing fear among the people. Food, iron, and lumber shipments became less frequent, and the cost for them increased. Certain merchants, who cared not for the people, had allied themselves with Keldar to gain control of the flow of money. Fear, confusion, and anguish continued to increase while the influence of the city and the King declined.

?Esalens had rarely experienced any serious problems since the presence of the Sanctuary reminded the population of the proximity of the King. Rumors had begun to be whispered that the King was dead or possibly never existed. The first murder in three years did not cause much concern. However, the following two did. Three murders in the same month had been unheard of. Prices for goods climbed, and food became more challenging to acquire, twice the cost of what it had been a year before. Grumbling filtered out of taverns and the marketplaces, with rumors of the dark prince attempting to take over the nation.

Keldar reveled in the turmoil. His followers found their way into every aspect of Welleckian life. They even returned to the city unrecognized as new merchants, teachers, and even a few preceptors. Distrust and doubt of the King had begun to spread like a fungus across the country.

There was hope that a core remnant of loyal people would hold to the teachings and precepts and then spread them energetically to the whole island, thus exposing Keldar’s fraud. The few people and Illuminators who held a tight loyalty to the King had moved to a portion of the city just below the chateau wall, afraid of the growing anger. They had hoped and begged in the Sanctuary that the King would come out of his high place and back among the people. There was no answer, and now they were banned from the Sanctuary.

Few remembered, and even fewer understood how the Illuminators had communicated with the King. Some people believed the Illuminators lied, creating whatever edicts they felt served their purposes. Only Illuminators and Preceptors could now read the scrolls, so how would people have known them differently? Others believed the rumors. If the King had gone, why worry about the King's directives? The people forgot that the Precepts of the King were created for their benefit, containing the information needed to run a nation justly and well. The guards and servants were unworried about enforcing them; gold, silver, wine, and food became the royalty they served.

King Alaric had known that the land's first settlers carried a dark seed that would grow and fester through some of the people, culminating in the fall of the Guard Captain, Keldar. He had hoped the people would continue in the way of the precepts and transform the darkness. The time had come when a rescue of the people was needed—a rescue that the people could individually choose, a rescue that would bond them to the King’s principles. This rescue would identify and separate those who yearned for good from those who embraced evil.

The old man slowly stood, stretching as best he could, “That is all!” he said.

“More, please, more.” the children asked, with adults nodding in agreement.

Lifting the hood over his head and stepping off the platform, he said, “Tomorrow.”