Chapter Twenty-Seven

It has been five years since I’ve returned from my retirement and I still have yet to place quill to parchment and update these Annals as is my duty. The events of the last few years have swirled around us constantly, leaving little time for reflection and introspection, but perhaps I can summarize.
Alexander, it seems, is completely lost to me now. I can not fathom his reasons for slaughtering my dear Marla and the children, only that they were cold and cruel – calculated to hurt me personally as much as possible. I still don’t know what I’ve done to warrant such hatred from my son, but his intentions are clear. The reports coming in over the last few years have him approaching nearly all of our enemies in an attempt to curry favor or sway their course. Our absorbtion of the leadership caste of the Emperial Guard gave me some insight, but no details. He now apears to be worming his way through the ranks of the Coven of Evil – a small but fierce band of mages, daemons, and undead intent on the usual tripe.
Year twenty-five of my command found us in the employ of the House Shadune of Northwood. I returned from retirement at a critical juncture in history it seems. The evil Minax had grown powerful enough to spread her armies all over Britannia. British, with the help of dozens of mages and seers, managed to bring about a *second* Britannia, a world lush and empty – devoid of the terrible evil that was threatening to walk across the world. When Minax finally attacked the major cities, we helped people evacuate through the moongates to this new land (dubbed “Trammel”). Winterfell, Myca’s Brood, and the Emeralds including dozens of other groups and individuals fled the onslaught both in terror and with a sparkle in their eyes for taming the untouched lands beyond the gates. We afforded ourselves no such luxury. It is the duty of the Society to protect the lands from chaos, and our home had been completely overrun with such. Trees and flowers whithered and died, and the remnants of battle and death are everywhere. While all around us tucked tail and ran, I gave the order that the Society was to stay behind to assist the evacutees and battle Minax. But, as it turns out, we didn’t have to do it alone.
Just before Minax’s big push, we started seeing men in tell-tale blue of Shadune uniforms wandering about Northwood. They were gathering, slowly. Within a week, the place was crawling with Shadunes, and I finally found that Ellis Rain and Elendril Shadune had returned and were behind the resurgence. We talked for some length – it would seem Elendril followed much the same course that I had – wife, children, traumatic event forcing him back into service, etc.. He was back with a vengeance, especially since those who stood in his way previously were gone from Northwood. I decided finally to throw in with them wholly, causing abit of grumbling from the men, but as much as Rain and Shadune may be hard-headed assholes, I do like the way they do things. Within a few weeks we had a contract negotiated and signed. We had a boss again.
The last few years have been constant conflict. The Shadunes and ourselves are basically the only forces of order left in Felucca and we are assailed constantly by those who would snuff out the last bit of law left in the world. We’ve held up so far, even against the far superior numbers of the enemy. We’ll see what the future brings.