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Prologue
Excerpted froa Affair: An Examination of the Recent Crisis’ Compiled by the Contemporary History Department of the University of Matherion
A compilation such as this is the work ofviews While the author of this portion of the work in hand has enorue who so ably co chapter, the reader must be candidly advised that this writer differs froue in the interpretation of a nuree that the intervention by the agents of the Church of Chyrellos in the Cyrga Affair was entirely untainted by self-interest
Imy admiration and respect for Zalasta of Styricum The inestimable services to the Empire of this wise and faithful statesman cannot be overly praised Thus it was that when the full iovernment, it was quite natural for our ministers to turn to Zalasta for counsel Despite our admiration for this pre-eminent citizen of Styricum, however, we must admit that Zalasta’s mind is so noble that he sometimes fails to perceive less adrave doubts in soed that we turn our attention beyond the borders of Tamuli in our quest for a solution to the proble the diht, Sir Sparhaas best suited to deal with the situation troubled the more conservative enius, he is nonetheless a member of one of the Militant Orders of the Church of Chyrellos, and prudent uard when cos with that particular institution
Sir Sparhawk had co the Second Zehts of the Church of Chyrellos and the minions of Otha of Zeendary, can tell us precisely what took place in the City of Ze Sir Sparhawk’s fateful confrontation with Otha and with the Zearbled hints that Sir Sparhawk may have utilized an ancient talisle, but no reputable scholar has been able to uncover any details about the talised to perfor feat, it is undeniably true that Sir Sparhaas successful in his mission, and it was clearly that reovernht for aid in the early stages of the Cyrga Affair – despite the grave reservations of sohly respected ministers, who quite correctly pointed out that an alliance between the Eht with unseen dangers Unfortunately perhaps, the faction headed by Foreign Minister Oscagne currently has the Emperor’s ear, and our Priovernerous course of action
Foreign Minister Oscagne himself headed the mission to the seat of the Elene Church at Chyrellos to petition Archprelate Dol with the crisis While no one can question Oscagne’s skill in diplomacy, his political views have been called into question in some quarters, and it is widely known that he and the Prireed violently in the past
The politics of the Eosian Continent are murky, for there is no central authority there Quite frequently, the Church of Chyrellos finds itself at odds with the reigning ht, Sir Sparhaould normally be under the command of Archprelate Dolmant, but that simple and direct line of command was clouded by the fact that Sparhawk is also the Prince Consort of the Queen of Elenia and therefore subject to her whine was able to demonstrate his virtuosity in the field of diplouity of interest with the Empire in the matter, but Queen Ehlana re, and her eeed separation from her husband with a profound lack of enthusiasne proposed that Sir Sparhawk’s journey to the Daresian Continent ht best be masked by a state visit of Queen Ehlana to the imperial court in Matherion As Prince Consort, Sir Sparhaould quite naturally accompany his wife, and his presence would thus be fully explained This proposal sufficiently reed
Traveling with a suitable escort of one hundred Church Knights and various functionaries, Queen Ehlana took ship and sailed to the port of Salesha in eastern Zemoch From there the royal party traveled north to Basne where an additional escort of horsemen from eastern Pelosia awaited them Thus reinforced, the Elenes crossed the border into Astel in western Daresia
The accounts we have received of the queen’s journey have shown so inconsistencies Objections have been raised that, should we accept the word of these Elenes, ould clearly be faced with an absurdity After some consideration, however, this writer has become convinced that these apparent discrepancies can be easily reconciled if those who so violently object will but take the trouble to examine the differences between the Elene and the Tamul calendars The Queen of Elenia did not, in fact, pretend to have flown across the continent, as soress was quite norentleer than ours!
At any rate, the queen’s party reached the capital of Astel at Darsas, where Queen Ehlana so char Alberen that Ambassador Fontan hu her his crown Prince Sparhawk, an to actively pursue the real purpose behind his journey to Ta of information about what the Elenes had melodramatically come to call ‘the conspiracy’
The queen’s party was joined at Darsas by two legions of Atan warriors under the leadership of Engessa, the coarrison at Cenae, and they journeyed to Pela on the steppes of central Astel to meet with the nomadic Peloi From thence they set out for the Styric city of Sarsos in northeastern Astel