The Imperial Federal Kingdom of Grand, Belluterra, and Malo (USNW)

Ok, here's the last segment of this chapter (there are 20 chapters in all)

When the Spaniards realized that that wasn’t a relief army but an enemy one, they all were afraid to different degrees, but their Captain got hold of them and managed to get them into the fort and had the gates closed, and none too soon, for the Allies were now only a kilometer away.
When the Governor saw the gates of the fortress close (The Chief wasn’t there, having to tend to matters back at home) he stopped, and called a meeting of all the officers in order to think what to do next. While walking around, waiting for all the officers to be assembled, he noticed an object in the distance. He picked up his spyglass and pointed it at the object. He quickly recognized it as a Spanish galleon and wondered why it wasn’t at anchor. He was at first worried that the Spanish had brought reinforcements, until he remembered that one of the Spaniards they had captured had told him that they had arrived by ship, but were unable to return because their ships had both been wrecked. He realized that that was one of the ships. He called for the Captain’s secretary, who was one of the prisoners.
When the prisoner arrived, the governor asked him what the name of that ship was and what its condition was. The secretary replied that that was Captain Rodriguez’ flagship, the Francisco Pizarro, and that last he knew, it was in very good condition, such good condition that they had tried to refloat it, but had failed. The Governor thanked him for the information and dismissed him. As he walked to the meeting-tent, he knew what he was going to propose.
As soon as he had gotten everybody into order, he started his proposal. It was this: The next day, they were to split into two equal groups. Army Group One was to lay siege to the fort, while Army Group Two was to try and dislodge the Francisco Pizarro from the sandbank. If that didn’t work, Army Group One was to send some of their soldiers to help Army Group Two dislodge the ship. If that still didn’t work, they were to send more soldiers. If that still didn’t work, and Army Group One had sent all but 125 soldiers, they were to salvage the cannons and then try again. If that still even then didn’t work, they were to take the cannons and ammunition and rejoin Army Group One and take the fort. The Governor’s plan was almost instantly unanimously agreed upon. Thus, the next day, Army Group Two set out to round the lagoon, while Army Group One prepared to besiege the fort. It was the 22nd of August.
When the Governor and his men reached the ship, even they were surprised at the excellent condition of the vessel. There was not a tear or a hole to be seen, inside or out. This was all the more amazing because the ship had been abandoned for over a month. After admiring the vessel (most of the men had never even seen a ship this big before) the men immediately set to work. As it turned out, 450 men in canoes were more than enough to move the galleon. The galleon slipped off the rocks easily. While half of the men went back to Army Group One, the Governor and 250 men boarded the galleon and prepared for sailing on the morrow, because night was falling, making it too dangerous to sail immediately.
The next day, the Governor and his men set sail out of the lagoon on the Francisco Pizarro– rechristened the Virgin Queen after Queen Elizabeth. The Spanish were overjoyed to see a Spanish vessel– they could tell it was Spanish by the build– and so were understandably surprised when a volley of cannonballs smashed into the walls of their fort. They at first thought it was a mistake, until they saw the ship hoist the Elizabethtown colors and the Elizabethtown First Naval Jack (Colors described in Ch. 1; A Conflict of Interests; First Naval Jack [NOT current Naval Jack] is my Avatar) before the ship fired another volley of cannonballs at the fort, which also struck their targets. Soon after, the Captain was badly wounded, and his comrades, believing him to be dead, struck the Spanish colors flying over the fort. They then went out, broke their swords, and surrendered. The war was over, having lasted 49 days, from the 5th of July to the 23rd of August, with 140 dead and 180 wounded on the Allied side and 6 dead and 39 wounded on the Spanish side. When the Governor heard that the surrender treaty was signed, he collapsed into unconsciousness from exhaustion.
When the Governor awoke 9 days later, he was informed that he was now the people’s hero and they wanted him to be King, on condition that he be fair to all. He accepted, on condition that he be the vassal of the English monarch, which the people accepted. So it was that on September 1st, 1584, independence was declared in Elizabethtown, to great celebration. The celebrations were even greater three weeks later, when Governor Francis Roberts was crowned King Francis I of the Grand English and Grand Natives, September 21st, 1584.

Here's a contemporary painting by the famous Grandian artist Kunihanna, in the Grand Imperial Art Museum, currently under restoration.

Not everybody celebrated the new King. The Spaniards, now imprisoned, were pretty grouchy overall, and most of them were quietly plotting revenge. When their Captain came to, he was furious to find out that his men had surrendered. He verbally berated them for quite a while, until the guards finally had to step in and quiet him down. The guards, as soon as they were off duty, reported the incident to the King-elect. His counselors advised him to do something about the Spanish, but Francis said he’d prefer to wait until his coronation.
After his coronation, his counselors reminded him about the Spanish. The King replied that he was thinking what to do with them, and would reply by the morrow. The next day, he called a meeting of his counselors for the topic of what to do with the Spanish. After several proposals were thrown around, including but not only placing them back on their galleon without any weapons and forcing them to sail away, King Francis proposed that they should make a miniature colony especially for the Spaniards on the shore of Laguna la Mer, with guard towers all around, and forbid them to carry weapons or leave the colony, but otherwise, give them freedom in the place, and also to provide women for them if the women and the Spaniards both accept. Everyone agreed, and so it was done, but in hindsight, this was one of the worst decisions King Francis made, for the Spaniards were to be a pain in the neck for generations to come.

I suppose I should slow down with my posts a bit until somebody comments.

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

I will be REALLY slowing down for the next few days, (possibly a week or even a month), because I have to concentrate on working on my COFR membership application , but I promise I will drop in once in a while, posting more episodes of my history every 3 days or so, and once COFR has replied, I will get back to the SimSports Community and all you great guys!

Thus the Royal Kingdom of Grand began. The Spaniards were deported to Laguna la Mer, and started a village there, whose population quickly grew. The Spaniards were resentful at the Grandians for the defeat and deportation, not taking into account that they were responsible for it in the first place by firing at them when they came to ask for peace.
Many, many years later, on the evening of September 20th, 1652, at the age of 98, King Francis I passed away in his sleep. All of Grand mourned (except for the 460 or so Spaniards, who celebrated his death). He was a wise, just, compassionate king, beloved by all, his people and Natives alike. The records he set still stand even today, including the longest-lived Grandian monarch (a day short of 99), longest-reigning Grandian monarch (a day short of 68 years), and tallest Grandian monarch (2.57 meters). He was exceptionally tall then, because the average person then was only around 1.6 meters.
After the death of King Francis, his son took up the throne as King John I, and so began a new era in Grand, an era of relative peace and prosperity, except for the occasional Spanish revolt (one of the worst was in 1687, where around 270 Spaniards rebelled against their guards, slew them, and were on the brink of capturing all of lower Grand before the rebellion was put down). All this was to end in 1715.

Here's Francis I not long after he became King...

The Troubles Begin

It was a beautiful day, a Sunday. It was May 5th, 1715. King Arthur, grandson of King John I, sat on the throne, his grandfather having died 1 year before and his father 5 weeks before. It was the lunch hour, and while the King was entertaining some Hawaiian officials who had come to visit, a messenger suddenly burst into the room and went to King Arthur. The King excused himself and walked over to the messenger. He asked him what message he brought. The messenger handed him a letter from the commander of the Laguna Regiment. The King opened the message and started to read it. He started getting paler and paler as he continued reading. When he finished reading the message, he ordered that they should give a room and refreshments to the messenger, who was quite exhausted. He then retired to his chambers with the message to read it again.
The message read as follows:

Sorry I haven't posted the last few days, but our Internet connection was out...

In Secret League

The King, after meditating for a few hours on what to do, called a meeting of his Counselors and Representatives (by this time, the Kingdom of Grand had five cities and villages, besides the Native-only ones). While waiting for them all to arrive, he went to the Royal Chapel to pray. After he finished praying, he went to the Meeting Hall where all the Counselors and Representatives had just assembled. He asked their opinion on what to do, and came to a decision: They would send as many soldiers as possible in order to keep the peace without using violence, but if that wasn’t enough, they were to use as little violence as possible until the revolt quieted down.
The order was sent out, but soon reports started to come back that they needed more and more soldiers, until finally they had sent their entire army there. Then the soldiers were forced to use violence in order to protect themselves. In the midst of all this, suddenly a report came to the King that a large group of people had landed on Plain Island and were claiming the land in the name of some strange country named ‘Bratin’ and were starting to build a large fort out of logs. The King decided to ask the Spanish what they would like to have in order to stop rioting, so that he could spare some of his men to investigate these strangers. The Spanish replied that they would like the right to arm themselves in order to protect themselves from any potential bad omen, which the King granted them.
No sooner had they all armed themselves (during which they did stop rioting) then they rose up and slew their guards and many of the soldiers. Totally unprepared for this, and faced with a massacre of most, if not all, of the army, the second-in-command gave the order to retreat (Commander Phillips had been killed during the initial attack). As soon as the Grandian army had evacuated the city, the Spanish took control of the watchtowers, the small garrison, and started constructing a wall around their city, while they sent a message to the British commander informing him of the success of the operation, for the Grand Spanish had been in league with the British the entire time.

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

The national languages have been officially changed to Grind and Hawaiian from English and Hawaiian, in an official effort to destroy the British culture and supplant it with the until-recently-suppresed Grandian one.

Grind has 14 letters in it's alphabet: A, E, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, S, T, U, and W. If any of you want a word or phrase in Grind, just post here. I will also post at least once a week a word, phrase, or sometimes more, in Grind. I will also post Grandian culture insights.

Signed,

EMPEROR DANIEL I OF THE REPUBLICAN KINGDOM OF GRAND AND BELLUTERRA

P.S. Coming soon: a spruced-up version of my flag, with an updated coat of arms.

So what's "Grind" in Grind if there's no G, R, or D?

Grind is the English translation. The name of the language in Grind is Khwint.

Ok, more history, and afterwards, my spruced-up flag...

When King Arthur heard about the treachery of the Spaniards, he at first collapsed with shock, and then asked the messenger if it was really true that the Spanish had defeated the Grandians and were practically independent. The messenger replied that it was true, and added that the army was camped outside the capital (King John II had moved the capital to Mousford, where the first battle of the Spanish-Colonist War had been fought) and were awaiting orders as to what to do next. The King replied that they should send a contingent of men to warn and protect Elizabethtown, while sending two more contingents, taking himself with them, to find out exactly what these people from ‘Bratin’ were doing here and what they wanted. He also gave orders that the remaining soldiers should instruct the populace of Mousford in self-defense, and construct fortifications around their capital.
The next day, the 17th of May, the King and his men set out on horseback to investigate these people from ‘Bratin’. Already they could see fortifications going up around the city, and soldiers training the civilians. After about a day of traveling, the King and his men came to a crossroads. They could either go north, over the mountains, or east-north-east, around them by way of Elizabethtown. They chose the Elizabethtown road. About a day and a half later, on the evening of the 20th, they arrived at Elizabethtown, where they decided to spend the night at the now-finished Royal Castle. The next day, they set out again, after surveying the town, which was almost completely fortified by this time. A few days later, they could see not too far away the Native village of Plain Island Tip, where there was usually a ferry ready to transport anybody who needed it to get to the island. This time, however, there was no ferry. Instead, there was a wooden bridge, with some people apparently making a stone one to replace it.
King Arthur, after consulting with his contingent commanders, sent two scouts to find out what exactly was going on and to report back to him as soon as possible. Five hours later, they came back, with bad news. These people were intent on conquering their land and would stop at nothing to do so. They were already making the local Natives their servants, and from information gathered from them, were preparing to launch a major offensive southward. The King decided to take a diplomatic approach to the problem.
The next day, he and all his men rode down the hillside where they had been camping, and then rode across the wooden bridge to Plain Island, flying the First Flag of Grand (described in Ch. 1; A Conflict of Interests) and white flags underneath, as they rode towards the fortress.

Ok, now, presenting MY SPRUCED-UP FLAG!!!


Coming Soon: Declaration of War and a pic of the First Flag of Grand

Ok...

The Grandians soon found out that the ‘Bratin’ people spoke English, which was a relief, for they were worried that they would be unable to communicate. They then said that they would like to speak to their commander. The sentry said something to another man standing nearby, who then apparently got off the wall somehow, and pretty soon, an obviously important man rode out of the fortress’ gates, accompanied by some soldiers in bright red jackets. The man approached them.
The men of the fort rode up to them and asked them what they wanted. The Grandian King replied that they wanted to know where they were from, and also what they were doing here. The Commander replied that they were from Britain, and that they were there for the express purpose of colonizing the island. The British Commander then asked who they were, to which King Arthur replied that he was King Arthur of Grand, who, like many Grandians, was descended from English sailors left as a colony by Francis Drake. King Arthur then asked where Britain was, and if it was near England or Scotland, to which the Commander replied that Britain was the country made when England and Scotland united 8 years before. Admiral Armstrong (for that was his name) then replied that since Britain was the successor state to England, and that since the Grandian Declaration of Independence was not recognized by England, and therefore by Britain, Grand was officially a colony of Great Britain, and King Arthur and all his men, and indeed, any Grandian official or soldier, was a rebel and an insurgent and was to be arrested, tried, and if found guilty, executed. The king, who was getting angrier and angrier the whole time, then shouted, “RETREAT!!!” and with all his men, rode away as fast as they could to warn every major city south of the Grand Mountains. Admiral Armstrong, totally unprepared for this, let them go.

Ok, now the First Flag of Grand, and then a brief Khwint lesson and then a Grandian Culture Insight



Ok, now the Language Lesson;


Now the Culture Insight;

When you first greet someone, it is customary for you to say "Aieo" followed by either saying "(person's full name) pe kut with on und" (literally, [person's full name] is good with his own friends) or, if it's a stranger, you follow the "Aieo" by saying "Ankhuh, il ee pe und me?" (literally, Stranger, will you be friends with me?).

Please, ANYONE is welcome to post here with a request to translate an English word or phrase into Khwint. At the end of the week, I will write a paragraph and ask you to translate it. For the winner, (you have 48 hours from the moment it's posted) there will be a very special prize, which I will announce on the day of the quiz, unless anyone is mystified and wishes to know now.

PS: Every month, I will translate a passage from a famous novel into Khwint and if anyone translates it back into English in the same amount of time as the weekly contest, they will get an even MORE special prize.

King Arthur and his men rode as hard as they could, although they stopped every few hours to make sure their horses wouldn’t die of exhaustion. At the first stream they came across, the King called a meeting of all his men to decide what should be done. They agreed that after warning all the towns that were closer to them than Mousford, they should go on to Mousford and from there, dispatch messages of warning to all the towns that they couldn’t reach, while speeding up, and if necessary, upgrading the defenses around Mousford. The King was also looking forward to being back with his wife, whom he deeply loved.
Soon, they arrived at Elizabethtown, where, after warning them about the British, and leaving his oldest son in charge of the defenses, left. A few days later, they arrived back at Mousford, where the Queen was waiting for him. Five months later, on November 1st, the British, having received reinforcements, marched on Elizabethtown, which they took after a four-month siege. They subsequently executed Prince Francis and most of the defenders, razed the city walls, slighted the castle, and renamed the town to Fort Elizabeth as an act of irony, Fort Elizabeth previously being the name of the castle. Three days later, the vanguard of the British army arrived at Mousford, where all the forces the Grandians could muster were waiting for them.

Ok, now the Language Lesson...




Now the Culture Insight...

When at the meal table, it is customary to hold all utensils (except for the knife) in your right hand. Rumour has it that this custom was begun to prevent bloody fights at the meal table, and carried on after all tableknives had been rounded off. It is also customary to hold your cup in your right hand, except when you're pouring a drink into your cup. It is considered bad luck to go against the above mealtable customs.

The next day, the 8th of March, the armies commenced battle. For the next few days, the battle raged terribly. By the 12th, about 7500 were dead on the Grandian side, while about 600 British were dead, to say nothing of the wounded. Even so, the Grandians gave no sign of surrendering, showing that they would rather die than surrender. On the evening of the 15th, as Admiral Armstrong was settling down for the night, a figure in a black cloak entered his tent. Startled, he reached for his sword, until the figure told him to assemble himself, most of his officers, and about 500 of his most trusted men, and to come to the oak near the outer edge of the British camp, on the western side. Not knowing what to think, but deciding that if there was any trouble, they could easily take care of the lone figure, he called a meeting of most of his officers, told them to select their most trusted soldiers from each regiment, and to go with them to the center of the camp, where he would tell them what to do.
Pretty soon, they had all assembled in the center of the camp. As soon as Admiral Armstrong had made sure that everyone he had called was there, he led the way to the old oak, where, to everyone’s surprise, they saw two beautiful young women. Not sure if these women were friends or foes, Armstrong asked them where was the man who had summoned them to this tree, to which the slightly taller of the women replied that she was that person.
After recovering from his shock, Armstrong asked her who she was and what she wanted. She replied that she was the Queen of Grand, secretly of Spanish descent, and that she wanted to liberate her people from the oppressive reign of her husband. One of the lieutenants asked her how she was going to do that, to which she replied that she had her maidservant, also secretly of Spanish descent, poison the food of the King’s legitimate sons, who were most likely dying at this moment, in order to remove most of the King’s successors, while framing the head cook for this, while they had also put soporific substances in the King’s food, which would make him sleep solidly for at least 48 hours- plenty of time to carry out her plan.
Another lieutenant asked her what her plan was, to which she replied that she would lead them to the entrance of a secret passage on the opposite side of the river, where she had stored hundreds of Grandian Guard uniforms. Then they would all don the uniforms, and would enter the passage, which had several routes, but the main one would come up into the royal bedchamber on the ground floor. Then they would take the King, and some of them would spirit him away to a carefully-guarded tent. Then, at dawn, the rest of the men would go to the main gatehouse, overwhelm and kill the guards, set fire to some of the surrounding buildings as a signal to the British outside, and open the gates.
About an hour later, at about one o’clock in the morning of the 16th of March, 1716, everything was ready, and the group of British, led by Admiral Harold Armstrong and Queen Isabel Roberts, were at the entrance to the passage. They immediately started to take off their British uniforms and don the Grandian ones. To avoid the British confusing them for Grandians after the city was taken, they were to, just before opening the gates, paint red Xs on their armor. A few hours later, the King was sleeping in the British camp, and the city of Mousford had fallen to the British. Many of the other Grandian cities fell soon afterwards. The Fom had begun.
How did the information above come to be known? Because many years later, after the death of Isabel, Armstrong came out with the story of how Mousford fell.

Language Lesson Time!



Culture Insight

Casual sports from racing friends to street basketball are popular among Grandians. Not surprisingly, perhaps, there is one VERY popular sport that originated here in Hawaii Grand. It's surfing!

Originated in prehistory by natives who wished to play in the ENORMOUS offshore swells on the north shore, some of which tower over 14 meters. Later brought to Hawaii by merchantmen, it got so ingrained in Hawaiian culture that by the time Europeans reached Hawaii, surfing was so popular that it seemed as if it had been developed there.

Chapter III: Occupation

The Fom Begins

When Mousford, and then Grand in general, fell, Armstrong sent a letter to George I of the United Kingdom informing him of the capture of Grand, and asking him what should be done about Arthur. After a few months of waiting, the reply came. It said that Arthur should be given life and liberty, albeit as a commoner, if he should officially abolish the monarchy of Grand, handing over full power to the King of Britain, through his representative, the Governor-General. It also said that the new Governor-General of Grand was to be Armstrong, as a gift for defeating the ‘rebel’ Grandians. When Arthur was informed of the conditions for his freedom, he refused, not wanting to be seen as a traitor to his people. Two weeks later, on June 15th, 1716, Arthur was led up the scaffold to be hung, after many of his officials suffered a similar fate, while thousands of Grandians protested outside the Palace Walls. His last words, just before he was hung as a traitor, were these:
“Oh, Isabel, what have you done to me, to our country? You will not last long, I promise.”
Soon afterwards, Governor-General Armstrong left his new wife, Isabel Roberts-Armstrong, and rode out with an army to search for the King’s brother, Samuel, who was next in line to the now-abolished throne. He had heard from his wife that a few days before the volcano erupted, he had left to the small village of Agritone on business. The Governor felt confident that he would catch Prince Samuel unawares, but when he arrived at Agritone, they were all surprised at what they saw. They found a completely abandoned town, without even the most basic necessities, and with most of the buildings half burned down to boot. Confused, they wandered around the village, until a few of the men, who had rode over to the only not burned-down building, the Mayor’s Palace, called the rest of them over. When the Governor reached them, he dismounted and went up to the front door, where there was a paper with some writing nailed to it. He tore it off, and began to read. It read as follows:



Language Lesson



Culture Insight

Traditional foods in Grand include:
1: Shasse awalow (breakfast)
2: Brakeoik (lunch)
3: Stabar (dinner)

Shasse awalow is essentially an enormous cheese sandwich, while brakeoik is a type of cookie with butter on it, and stabar is kind of like a large loaf of local bread (heat) with minced meat stuffed inside.

Soon, there'll be a Royal Announcement, so why don't you just kick your shoes off and relax while you're reading this...

Although the British had a mostly detrimental effect on Grand, they did bring some good things to Grand, such as English-language books, improved firearms, more modern ships, many skilled workers, and other such things. However, the British were quite rude to the Grandians oftentimes, and usually used them for the menial jobs, in their own country. They also required permits for any Grandian, except for the Spaniards, in order to travel from city to city. However, they weren’t expecting what the Grandians were slowly preparing for. On September 21st, 1734, it began.
The day started just like any other day. The church bells were ringing to announce the time of day. People were going about their business, under the watchful eye of the Redcoats. However, as the clock struck ten and the bells began to ring, the Redcoats in the market area suddenly found themselves overwhelmed by Grandians wielding handguns. Although the Redcoats were superior in weaponry, they were overwhelmed by the much more numerous Grandians. After overwhelming the soldiers, they proceeded to the Governor’s Palace, where they stayed outside the gates, demanding that the Governor resign, and, with all the other British soldiers, leave at once and never return. Armstrong replied by sending in troops, despite the protests of Isabel, who didn’t want a bloody occupation, but a peaceful one. Within about half an hour, King George Plaza (formerly King Francis Square) was cleared, except for the two dozen or so bodies that were left behind.
Over the next few weeks, the Government started a crackdown on those responsible for the uprising, executing a few dozen and imprisoning hundreds more. The Governor also decided to move the Governor’s place of residence to Long Creek, a few kilometers outside Mousford.


When you come to visit someone's house, it is traditional to, once you enter, to kneel to the floor, and say, "Und, pe kut tu me ant-ualkim me". When the host subsequently tells you to arise, you get up, and embrace him.

P.S. In Khwint grammar, just for your information, articles are always followed by a dash connecting them to the following word
(ex: and welcome = ant-ualkim).

You shouldn't be using "foul language"... (see translation for type)...

Sorry, it was a typo. It's corrected now.

ROYAL ANNOUNCEMENT

With 1 day more, and then the weekly contest, our Royal Emperor has decided to announce the prize for the weekly contest: a free week-long vacation to any one location in the Empire for the leader of the Nation of the winner, plus his family (if he has one), plus his bodyguards (if he has them, of course). If someone wins, I will ask them to post the names of their visitors, plus (of course) the name of their country, and the place they would like to visit. I will then post pics of their visit. Provided are the current locations available to visit, with pics.

1: The Royal Palace at Long Creek (Palace City)


2: Mousford (City)



3: Upriver (City)


4: Fort Elizabeth (Town)



5: Factoria (City)


6: Sloping Mountain (City)


7: Laguna la Mer (City)


8: Defacto (Town)


9: Agritone (Village)


10: Belcher (City)


11: Dry Mountains (Mountain range)


12: Sea Cliff (Town)


13: Earthton (Village)


14: Hillton (City)



15: Pine Hill (City)


If you'd like to visit our country, but not one of the places listed here, please tell me.

One suggestion if you are vying to join the COFR: Use some custom content. Visit the STEX or LEX to get some good lots and mods. Its required you have good use of custom content and install the "Network Addon Mod" (NAM), found under the NAM Team's uploads.

Ok, but it'll delay my application.

While the court was moved to Long Creek, the Governor and his wife stayed in Mousford until the Gubernatorial Palace was completed. After it was completed, it covered 1 sq. kilometer and was the most luxurious structure in all of Grand, outshining even Saint John’s Cathedral in Mousford. Soon afterwards, Governor-General Armstrong and his wife Isabel were ready to move into their new Palace, though the one in Mousford would also officially be one of the Governor’s residences.
On November 1st, 1734, they were traveling in a gilded open-top carriage to the new palace, when suddenly, just as they were about to enter the village of Long Creek, they were ambushed. The carriage driver was almost instantly killed, as were several of the escort soldiers. As one of the highwaymen took aim at the Governor, Isabel saw what was happening, and moved in front of Armstrong just as he pulled the trigger. She then slumped to the floor, as the one who had shot her yelled out, “By order of King Samuel of Grand, we are to remove you, Armstrong, from the face of the Earth, and this Nation” but it was too late for the Grandians to capture him, for one of the Governor’s guards had taken control of the carriage’s reins and quickly drove the carriage away as fast as possible. As Harold held his dying wife in his arms, he remembered King Arthur’s last words: “Oh Isabel, what have you done to me, to our country? You will not be lasting long, I promise.”
As soon as they reached the new palace, the Governor summoned a priest and a doctor. The priest arrived just in time to administer the last rites, after which Isabel quietly said, “Harold, you deserved that ball. I did not.” before she passed away. She was 36 years old.

Tomorrow is the contest, so brush up on your Khwint...



Culture Insight

The people of Grand and Belluterra are very devout in their religion. The majority of the populace (72%) belong to the Church of Grand. However, a large minority (22%), mostly centered in Laguna la Mer, is Roman Catholic. About 3% of the population, mostly composed of people of Japanese descent, is Buddhist. Another 2% are Muslim. The remaining ones (>1%) belong to other religions.