Foreword by the Librarian

We have a rare document in stock. It is a transcript of an Honordom Priest who managed to flee over the border. Unfortunately, the scroll has been damaged but it still provides valuable inside into the Holy Empire that is hard to come by unless you are in secret service circles. If you are reading this it is your duty to relay the information herein as documents on the Holy Empire often find themselves demolished earlier or later.

Unfortunately, the piece you are reading had to be recovered after an accident and is now missing a part at the end where the writer goes into more detail about the Priesthood and the Order of Sol.

CONFESSIONS OF A PRIEST

You’ve come here because the Holy Empire and Honordom are a secret to you. No wonder, they make sure nobody knows what is going on inside the borders. In the same way, it is not understood what happens when a country starts to turn towards Honordom, slowly eating its guts before it is absorbed into the Holy Empire, the only Holy Empire. Few understand what happened when Amurea or the Catorealm turned upon each other. When they slew their siblings and parents, their children and elders. Only the League countries' secret services truly understand - aside from the Honordom Priests of course who are responsible. How is life after the country has been absorbed, swallowed by the promised light of the golden Malar sun that shines forth from Holy Solano? What is the new world that awaits? Let us talk about the arrests without reason, a truth that was not discovered but made, and myths so well written that millions suspend disbelief.

PAST

One such myth is the Barbarian. I was just a child when these stories were told to me. I grew up in Riu Kar, Castodia, Holy Empire but the stories are everywhere roughly the same. For me, it began with the construction of the Helen’s Line.

When I was able to talk and walk, the construction had just begun. This was a long area of walls, trenches, and strongholds that created a long sliver that was supposed to run all the way up from the Eon Malungas, the mountain chain that created our border in the east, to the Spirited Forest in the north. Outside the wall were the Mudlands - that’s what the soldiers and workers used to call them. I can still remember the Mudlands being foggy and mysterious. But after hearing stories I came to know that they were also dangerous. Because on the other side lived barbarians and monsters.

Many stories were told and slowly we believed them. The upper border near the Boon Sea was known for its spirits and monsters, the lower parts of the border were known as the territory of barbarians. And in a way, people seemed to be more afraid of the barbarians. They disliked the monsters but fighting them seemed to be possible and heroic - medals were handed out all the time. But Barbarians did not excite the soldiers. They were said to work like one cohesive unit. They were hard to kill. Because they were so dangerous the soldiers never stepped a foot out into the Mudlands and the Generals were too wise to waste lives. It was said that barbarians were surrounding the entire empire like an island of civilization in the darkness. It was an image that was used often. It always made us feel proud and special. To be part of the one place in which mankind had made it to a place of intelligence and cooperation. But of course, it came at the price that no one in their right mind ever even considered crossing the border, stepping foot near the caves in the Eon Mountains, or crossing the sea.

Sometimes people turned crazy and they tried to flee into the mist. They never seemed crazy to me on the outside - they usually seemed determined and had often thought long about how they would approach it. It was not as easy as the rest to believe. To believe that it was an illness of the mind that drove them into the mist. But eventually, I managed to convince myself sufficiently.

Of course, the thing that I should have been afraid of was not on the other side where the barbarians lived. The monsters were inside and they did not need to disguise themselves because I had learned from birth that they meant me no harm - so I believed them - even when they slowly killed my soul, the part of me which was supposed to live forever. Maybe I am lying to myself but I did I believe I did not even realize it was happening.

PRIEST

I was just 8 years old when I was …