A History of Ridica

Thousands of years ago, before the rise of Ridica, there existed another great kingdom, that of Prag. Prag was an immense empire – at its greatest it stretched across the land from Yorke in the north to Sesah in the south, and was ruled over by the Great King Rhode. The Great King Rhode was born in the fifth year of Farlan, to Doome, then prince of Prag. When Rhode reached his ninth year the King Farlan died in the battle of Rocle and Doome ascended to the throne of Prag. Upon his seventeenth year Prince Rhode fell in love and sired a bastard son to a palace maid. He named the child Ridic and resolved to marry the mother. Upon hearing of this his father the king ordered the woman and child put to death. On hearing his father’s orders Rhode switched out his son with another baby from the palace, but he was too late to save his love. After this tragedy the Great King set about finding a suitable wife for his son and in his nineteenth year Rhode was married to Kalia, the third daughter of King Frigh of Hankoom; though the marriage was loveless as Rhode, in part, blamed her for the death of his love. In his twenty-second year Great King Doome was assassinated during a peaceful visit to the king of the neighbouring province of Gath. So started the reign of Rhode and the war against Gath, which lasted three years, but in the end Rhode was victorious. He returned home and immediately adopted a boy by the name of Ridic, to the displeasure of his wife. A year later Kalia bore him another son; this one he named Son, but Rhode never liked the boy and instead favouring his bastard son Ridic.

Ridic, bastard son of Rhode, was born in the eighth year of Doome, and was adopted by the Great King Rhode in the third year of Rhode after his return from the conquest of Gath. Rhode showered affection on Ridic, the son of his first true love, but Queen Kalia always resented the boy because of the threat he posed to her future children and their place on the throne of Prag. In the fourth year of Rhode, Queen Kalia bore Rhode another son, this one he named Son, but King Rhode had no time for the boy, only for his adopted son Ridic. As a child Ridic dedicated himself to his studies, to the honing of his body and the mastery of combat and military tactics, all in an effort to impress his father. Upon turning twenty he was granted a large province in northern Prag called Gath, whereas his brother Son was granted one the smallest provinces in Prag, that of Haspeth. With the gaining of Gath, Ridic became a general in his father’s army in charge of the protection and promotion of the northern border. In his third year as general he set to conquering the province of Hyruh to the north of Ridic. After a two-year campaign he returned victorious, taking Hyruh for his newly named province of Ridic and the great kingdom of Prag. Over the next twenty years Ridic would conquer the provinces Seketh, Forsith, and Derik and the kingdoms of Ajaq and Luwus. Each time he returned to Prag wealthier and with mounting fame and adoration.

Volume Three: The War of the Great Kings

Upon the turning of forty nine, and concluding a vicious five year campaign against the province of Yorke, Ridic returned to Prag to find the kingdom in ruin. King Rhode, his father, had died and Son taken the throne, he had driven the great kingdom of Prag into the dirt, Ridic rode immediately for the capital Beruh, upon arrival he saw displayed before him the collective armies of Prag. Ridic’s growing fame among the peoples of Prag had angered his brother, who as the rightful heir to the throne, should have been the true focus for the people’s attention, the anger drove him mad, he became convinced Ridic was building an army to confront him so while Ridic conquered Yorke, Son gathered the remaining armies of the great kingdom of Prag. The brothers waged a war that decimated what remained of the kingdom of Prag, the war of The Great Kings lasted ten years, finishing with the death of Son on the plains of Rath. After the war had finished Prag as it once stood was no more, during the fighting many smaller outlying provinces and kingdoms had succeeded from the once great kingdom. As it was the once great armies of Prag were all but spent, the people, poor and starving, the land, trampled under the feet of a thousand battles, so Ridic, the new Great King, put from his mind any notion of revenge and in its stead set to restoring that which was left of Prag.

After the ending of the war of the Great Kings Prag was in ruins, Ridic set about trying to restore its former glory, it was a long process, Prag, now seen by many as weak was for some time under near constant attack from neighbouring kingdoms, but regardless the force they sent against him Ridic defeated them all no matter the odds, and with every win fewer and fewer were willing to try. Until, fifteen years after the war of the Great Kings, Prag had returned to some semblance of its former glory, upon which time Ridic now approaching seventy four years of age, set out on a campaign to conquer the deserters that had betrayed and split from Prag. By this time news of Ridic’s previous conquests, his victories in the face of all odds, had spread, the tales had grown, more facts construed with every passing of the lips, until Ridic became in the eyes of others no mere man but the bastard son of Onthar, High Lord of War, blessed by his father. Ridic’s army swept across the land, many kingdoms falling before ever raising arms, capitulating for fear of the son of Onthar, for those that did stand and fight they were quickly destroyed, until in space of only four years the kingdom of Prag was once again great and whole, as it had stood upon the death of Rhode thirty two years ago.

Volume Five: Defeat

After the reformation of Prag, Ridic set his sights on his, as of yet, most ambitious goal, the kingdom of Paz. Paz was a mountainous kingdom, set within the Hest Ranges on the North Eastern borderland of the Prag empire, it was said to be home of a mighty warrior race, who could call upon the fury of the earth to crush their enemies under the foothills of the mountains. No king had been able to conquer Paz since the beginning of history itself yet regardless Ridic gathered the newly reformed Northern Army and marched toward Paz, conquest and victory, but Ridic was not aware of what was to come. The Northern Army entered the Hest mountains three hundred thousand strong, to be met by a Pazian ambassador and a force of a mere five hundred, Ridic flew into a rage that the king of Paz would take him so lightly as to send such a pitiful force and a mere ambassador to confront him. Ridic In the initial assault the Northern Army of Prag was decimated by the magical warriors of Paz, rocks and lightening rained from the sky and, fire spewed from the earth and jagged pieces of ice sprang from the ground to impale those above, great winds tore through the mountains and buffeted many a man from the face of the mountainside. Ridic was forced, for the first time since his campaign in Seketh , to retreat. Upon this defeat Ridic sent word to his remaining armies for immediate reinforcement, then devised a plan on taking Paz, Ridic realised that he could not take Paz by force alone, as such he gathered to him the nine greatest warriors of the assembled armies of Prag.

Volume Six: Ridic’s Ascent

Ridic laid out a plan that while his armies fought those of Paz, he and his companions would find a way to ascend the mountain unnoticed by its guardians, they would make for the capital of Hi’Glend where they would find the king and in the finding attempt if at all possible to confront and kill him. Ridic sent out scouts to try and find a way up the mountain, meanwhile he gathered his forces and once again charged on mountains an attempt to distract his enemies so that his scouts could make it through. After thirteen days a singular scout returned, near the point of exhaustion he collapsed upon arrival, Ridic was called and he waited by the boys bed for nine hours before the boy finally awoke. He told them that he had found a way up the mountain, a treacherous road of ice and snow, more than once he had lost his footing and only by the purest luck survived, though badly bashed and broken, Ridic sent word to his companions that they were to leave in four days after the boy had recovered sufficiently to lead them to this pass. All the time not far away a battle raged between the forces of Prag and Paz, and though their dead were piled high in the drifts of snow on the mountainside the army of Prag was slowly gaining ground. Four days later Ridic and his company, accompanied by the scout, set out up the mountain range, the scout lead them to a narrow, steep path, covered in scree, ice and a thin layer of snow, it was suicide incarnate but if a mere scout could make it then surely they could. They bid the scout farewell and proceeded to climb the pass, the going was slow and exhausting, their hands and feet were frozen to the point of near uselessness, on the first day climbing the pass two of the company slipped and fell to their death before they reached a spot where they could rest, on the second day another three fell to their death and one abandoned after falling to break his leg. On the third day they reached the top of the pass, with only three companions left they rested for three days to regain their strength for the rest of the journey. After their respite they made for Hi’Glend, it was a four day trek according to the scout, though late on the second a blizzard came the ferocity of which was unbounded and which froze yet another of Ridic’s companions, the blizzard lasted for five days, during which the company ran out of rations, after the blizzard had ceased they continued onto Hi’Glend but lack of resources, exhaustion and exposure to the elements eventually took the lives of Ridic’s last two companions until Ridic, alone and exhausted finally collapsed at the gates to Hi’Glend.

Volume Seven: Wyn

Ridic awoke in bed, looking into the eyes of a most beautiful woman, the women offered Ridic a goblet filled with water, as Ridic reached to take the glass he saw his hand, it was bandaged and there were two stubs where fingers had once stood, raising himself in the bed he stared at it in disbelief, puzzlement, finally sense regained, Ridic tore off the covers shrouding hid body, thankful to see that that was the extent of the damage. Ridic noticed that the woman was still holding the proffered glass too him, he took it and drank deeply, then threw the goblet across the room and stood, to find his legs weakened and unable to hold his weight, he crumpled to the ground only to be caught within the arms of the woman, he found his face close to hers, up close it seemed even lovelier then his initial observations gave it credit for, long golden hair, steel blue almond eyes flecked with gray, smooth pale skin, he began to notice how close their bodies were, it was thin, lithe, and surprisingly strong, he breathed in, the smell of her was faint but pleasant to the senses. Ridic felt her tremble beneath him and realised, though strong she could not hold him for much longer, he mustered some strength to his legs and managed to take some wait from her as he manoeuvred himself onto the bed once more. Removed from her immediate presence Ridic recovered his wits sufficiently to demand the company of the king, to be told he was already in her company, Wyn, Queen of Paz.