The Return
CHAPTER 2 THE RETURN
The Return
“You must return…….you must return……..”
Those words echoed through the endless eternity of the ethereal plane Pater Imperium Borg traveled….whether my prayers are loud enough, I can only hope they are.
The Strength and HONOR that brought an end to the Holy War against the Orcs and Undead was summoned by the GODS to establish new Empires within new worlds and time. Emperor Greg and his leadership were boldly forging new homes for the souls of the citizens that leave the shards of the Gem of Immortality. A Vanguard was in place within the Midgard realms of Gawaine in the Dark Age of Camelot. Toward the Horizon’s edge of the Empires of Istaria sat the Dragon clan of The Eclipse. In the darkness of Shadowbane, the Oligarchy was being established where they would become the light of HONOR. Even the Orcs, honorable and strong, prepared and encampment on the World of Warcraft. Finally, in a galaxy far far away operations were setting up to take part in the Galaxies of Star Wars. Bold and determined the great heros of Catskills expanded The Honor Empire….and prepared for the future.
So did another…but his designs and plans were more personal…Lord Blackthorn and his revenge!!!
The GODS had spoken and Borg informed us that a storm so great that the walls of Olympus and the GODS themselves felt its wake. Now we can see that Lord Blackthorn has returned and has sacrificed his humanity in order to gain power. Exodus orchestrates an evil plot and Lord Blackthorn begins to establish and branch out his wickedness through greed like a plague amongst our realm. He aims to dominate the whole realm and complete what he believes is his destiny.
“You must return…you must return Borg” I speak it now though not a prayer but in a sense of urgency.
Borg like many of the souls that live here in Catskills was not native of this realm. He was a traveler who by his own accord was sent here to investigate a recorded powerful energy source that his kind sought to acquire as part of their own. When he arrived he was more machine than man…a drone he called himself. One of many with the mind of one. It was the shrine of HONOR that he found and in attempting to assimilate it….he was assimilated….he was reborn as the man you know today. No longer a drone he was one….he was Borg. He knows what it is to be a drone….more machine than man….he knows then how to
stop one like Lord Blackthorn….now more machine than man.
It has been now 2 weeks since Lord Blackthorn arrived and everywhere you can see the effect. The era of excess was still lingering while the mercenaries and even parts of great kingdoms of the realm sought the wealth that existed in the pockets of the new evil forces. City streets and merchant shops are deserted…in place of the sound of commerce and trade….there is silence. I walk along a once beaten and solid path that leads to Olympus from Trinsic. The brush has overgrown it and would it be that I had not walked it a thousand times…I fear I could get lost myself. As I push back a low hanging branch, I am amazed to see a villa standing on the waters edge….what is this I wonder? The morning mist is burning off and as I step up onto its patio….the door is locked….I peer inside. I can see a vault constructed in the corner and a small bag in the middle of the floor. Who built this…I wonder. I reach up and pull off a sack covering the sign.
”The Port Authority of PGoH”; I read on it.
I hear the call of an eagle and I turn to see it flying in from the bay; its vast strong wings cutting apart the mist as it travels over my head and toward Olympus. The mist separates and I can see the Walls of Olympus….my eye swells with pride and devotion for above it is a standard…..a standard I have not seen in quite some time….the standard of Borg. I rush to the castle doors, nearly tripping on the soul stone. That stone sits in the shadow and protection of Olympus as a binding point for all the fallen and lost warriors…near to their home and the GODS of Skills. I reach for the great doors and I can feel that they are warm…as I enter a feeling of comfort and saftey flows through me. The smith station is stocked and the air from the alchemy alcove dances with the smell of reagents. I pass through into the courtyard and the walls shimmered in the morning sun. I move toward the great hall and as I do the doors open….as if Olympus itself was welcoming me home. The great hearth is gone….replaced now with a great stone table. Behind the table are the standards of the Empire hanging proudly from the wall. The Elf, Praetorian Guard, Legion and Orc Clan surround the standard of Emperor Borg. On the far wall hang the Senate and State colors guarding a great stone chalice made of granite. As I turn and spin to take in the whole room….I feel myself rise into the air and the room begins to fill with light.
I am weightless and moving upward at incredible speed through the air. Realizing my relative position I gulp deeply…I can see Trinsic and the land becoming smaller as the light turns to darkness I now only see a spinning colorful gem. I feel my feet touch ground beneath me…I regain my footing and then I hear him.
“He will not take them…”; a voice states.
I turn my head to see Borg on one knee looking out across the darkness and as he points to one of the colorful gems he begins to talk to me.
“He will not take them Colin….he will try to take them all…and with all means at his disposal he will impose his will upon them.”
Borg paused a moment.
“All will resist….some may fall….that I must admit is a possibility…but Catskills will not!”; Borg exclaimed, pointing at one of the gems now bursting in light and effects.
“The great knights still prepare the other realms…are they returning?”; I asked Borg.
“Perhaps…perhaps not….regardless the level of aid…they will always be with us Colin. They are always with us in the struggles, battles or even in our ordinary duties of our lives. It is the HONOR that binds us…beyond the body and soul. HONOR is everywhere and within everything Colin…you should know that you taught me that long ago. The key now is and always will be…to unlock that power and focus it to serve the good of the many.”; Borg replied.
Nodding to Borg and feeling quite small in this darkness with gems dancing around us….I coyly ask; “Respectfully m’lord….umm where are we?”
Borg looked over to me and acted surprised in his reply.
“Huh?!…Colin….are you that old of a man?….do you not know your own room?!”; Borg smiled.
As I looked away from his eyes I found myself standing on the floor of my own room overlooking a crystal ball filled with small gems.
“Those gems where….are…BLAST IT…those were the shards from the gem of Immortality!!!” I barked.
Borg began to take amusement at me and held back chuckles
“This is my room from my old forge house near the Honor shrine in Felucca!” I continued to bark.
I could see through the window I was inside the villa in front of Olympus and on my bed sat keys to a vault and commissions to outfit 1000 Legion soldiers.
“Raise the Legion Colin”; Borg said as he opened the door toward the stairwell.
“ME?!…I am too old for that….Borg….Borg…gah…I am just a bookkeeper now, my days of glory are long gone.” I said as I followed him down the stairwell.
“It was you…OLD MAN…it was you Colin who took me in after finding me at the HONOR shrine…you who returned me to humanity from what I was and it was you who became my father here in this realm.”; Borg said as he turned at the front doors.
Placing both his hands on my shoulders he said to me; “You are a great teacher Colin and if we can retain half of what you think you have forgotten in your age….well we will be 10 times greater men. You know the power of the good of the many holds…teach it again.”
As he opened the door he said: “If we are to be successful against Lord Blackthorn in this campaign then I must find Dawn and begin to coordinate our resistance”
“Resistance is not futile….remember Colin…you taught me that….patience is an ally and with that we will defeat evil again. I must find Dawn….Raise the Legion Colin….Prepare the dogs of WAR!!!”; Borg exclaimed.
Borg cast a gate and as he walked into its brilliance he turned to me, smiled and winked…..he was gone.
Posted by Borg
Tuesday, February 26, 2002 12:00 AM EST
The Inquiry (The end of Excess)
CHAPTER 1 The INQUIRY
The end of Excess
Twas the age of Expansion….it was the years after the ascension of Emperor Borg to Olympus. Emperor Greg had risen and continued the fight against the hoards of evil; defeating them at nearly every battlefield. The provinces had flourished and the Senate was strong with economic power. The Legion was fully supplied and the Council of Honor had just approved measures to build an Imperial Navy. The clans of Orcs were decimated and the resulting arrival of Savages was met by the Alliance. The Alliance, which was formed of the great realm Empires and Kingdoms of PGoH, GoL, KoJ, LER and VK, stood as the supreme force of good throughout the realm. No one would have expected that this was the beginning of the darkest of ages…the age of Excess.
<<<>>>
It was a glorious morning and though we had lost many a soul and the lines had not slept for a week, we marched back to Trinsic to the bards songs of victory. All of the Orc strongholds had been destroyed and the Shadowriders now hunted down the scattered Orcs. Provincial citizens traveled homeward past the Legion lines, back toward their homes they had abandoned during the campaign. The sunrise was different today and as I looked up at it, I bathed in its brilliance and its warmth. The sun had been there all along but its warmth never was enough to overcome the coldness of death the wars had brought.
The cities, each of them in kind, welcomed home their protectors and celebrations seemed to last for weeks. City merchants thrived on the new resources, wares and gold brought back from conquest and through the reopening of trade routes once lost to Orc raiders. When news of the a primitive culture was reported replacing the Orcs in the provinces; mercenary forces met them and a cohort of the Legion was dispatched. The savages, though cunning and resourceful, also failed to be victorious against the mercenary forces that fought them…let alone the Alliance. The cities of the land slept secure and with no threat to their gates for months.
Shadowriders reported that Orcs and Savages were found in great pitched battles over the ruins of the Orc Strongholds that the Alliance had decimated and in odd twists the greed of mankind took over many minds as mercenaries chose sides in this battle over debris and ruins. New Orcs of great power and strength appeared and so did Savages of unparalleled skill appear on mounts of hideous appearance. The Alliance members discussed which side should they stand for and Pater Imperium Borg was summoned for guidance to this end.
“Do not stand for what you would sooner slay but support what you know to be evil”; Borg instructed.
This was an uneasy and uncomfortable command to enact. The sage Magistrate Balandar explained that he had instructed us to stand for neither but to aid what was once our oldest foe. This was difficult for many to accept because Orcs always were the enemy. The Phalynx Marcos the Black was captured by Orcs and our retribution for the loss of Cove to Orcs brought the end of Orc oppression everywhere. How could the Pater tell us to aid these beasts that still held Marcos. Furthermore, when the followers of Mercury, God of Mischief, found the new Orc strongholds evidence of Marcos training Orcs in the arts of war was found. Many in the Alliance and within the Legion itself began to speak of treason and fractures in the minds of men formed, like cracks in armor yield a weakness.
“Trust each in each other and trust in the Honor that binds thee”; Borg said in a dream to everyone in the Empire on the same night.
When Marcos was found on a battlefield with Orcs against Savages he was imprisoned and put on trial. His acquittal was shocking to some but his support of the Orcs was determined to be in the best interest of the Empire and realm itself. Still, some men and women left the Empire to continue to hunt down the Orcs and to also fight against the Savages. For the rest of the Empire the following months were difficult at best and surreal consistently. Conversations and debates were filled with anger and uneasiness at what should be done. Emperor Greg kept the Legion in check and the Empire out of the political and faction wars that began across the realm.
It was only until we realized Borg meant not to become their ally but to fight against this new threat along side the Orcs…for the Orcs knew what mankind would not accept. The Savages were the first from evil never seen before…the edge of a great dark shadow that now crept into the realm from beyond the edge of existence itself. This new evil was breaking against the realm like a great tide, spilling evil bit by bit into the realm.
“Evil knows Evil”; Borg told Emperor Greg and Senator of War Wolf.
“Mankind never accepts anything as real until it affects them directly”; Borg reminded them.
Pater Imperium Borg and the GODS of Olympus had tried to warn us that the evil that was coming would become real…if we allowed it to be. Through our complacency and satisfaction this evil did grow and through the greed of mankind the evil did prosper and become reality. Its foothold now was solid and the evil now has a full open gate into our realm. If we had only remembered what he had said…if we had only remained vigilant.
New lands have been found and the plunder and riches it holds are irresistible to the mercenary and merchants abroad. Even as the days pass, many do not realize the sun is not shining light and warmth; only the glow of greed is what they see with and what fuels their hearths fire. This greed is strong and with it has come overconfidence. This overconfidence now determines participation against evil when is appears. The rich see the battlegrounds as places beneath them and that they are untouchable in their personal fortresses or cities built by their ancestors and kin. This is the end of their age of Excess, the end of what they know to be true and real. This is the end of the age of Excess and the beginning of darkness that has existed for quite some time.
Colin Mor….I ask of you what shall we do now?
What day will break after this darkness has been overcome?
Will we even realize it is even dark at all?
Felix Felthwin, Gladiator PGoH Legion
I sent this reply to Felix as well as the Council of Honor
Sharpen your sword, supply your satchel and rally recruits
The Age of Twilight has begun.
How right I was for it has been a month and Lord Blackthorn now has returned....we need to rally and pray for the ancients to return....all will be needed I fear.....is it thunder of a storm or the drums of War approaching.
Posted by Borg
Friday, February 15, 2002 12:00 AM EST
The Honor Empire expands
It is with great pleasure for me to announce that The Honor Empire now has expanded its realm 5-fold to accomodate the many new opportunities and entertainment for its membership enjoy.
What began as one game guild (The Purple Guardians of HONOR) PGoH in Ultima Online...is now in multiple games as unique themed guilds based on the game engines.
Ultima Online........................PGoH (Purple Guardians of HONOR)
Everquest.......................SLoT (Sacred Legion of Tunarre)
Dark Age of Camelot.....V V (Valhalla Vanguard)
soon to appear are
Shadowbane..............LoA (Lords of Ardan)
Galaxies................ TBA
Horizons.....................~E~ (The Eclipse)
World of Warcraft.......SCO (Skullcrusher Orcs)
Posted by Borg
Saturday, February 2, 2002 12:00 AM EST