My Kingdom for a Kiss
Author: Kantayra
Prologue
From 'A General History of The New Age Of Illyria', Chapter 6...
The last Slayer army, under the command of Rona Blair, was finally located outside Old Cleveland. The infamous Battle of Edgewater followed (See Insert on Page 79), the most violent incursion against Illyria's Kingdom since the Great Slayer Revolt of 2004. Ground fighting began on the 7th of October 2018 and quickly degenerated into the bloody guerilla tactics so characteristic of the terrorist group. Over 4000 soldiers of the Imperial Army were killed before General Xaneth bombarded the war-zone with temporal shells. In the aftermath, the remainder of the rebellion, including the leader, Blair, were captured and official victory was declared upon the 13th of October 2018, the first annual V'n Hara Day.
An imperial court was established in Illea. Blair and the other insurgent leaders were each sentenced to death, while the guerilla soldiers were imprisoned in the Great Void. This first trial based upon the old human system was considered a revolutionary idea at the time and did much to repair the strained relationship between the vaalian troops of Illyria's personal guard and their human subjects. The Illean Trials are often viewed as the end of the vaalian/human schism in the New Kingdom, although decades of further discrimination followed.
Her New Kingdom intact, Illyria turned the Illean Court to the inter-dimensional incursion by Kirazi of Marendon for the first time. While the Marendons had been instrumental in providing arms to the Slayer terrorist organizations, Kirazi didn't openly seek war with Illyria until after the Illean Trials. In keeping with the typical Marendon tradition of inciting betrayal and riots, Kirazi sought his newest allies within Illyria's own Court. His attempts to overthrow the governing body were timed perfectly with the first reorganization the Court had seen since its founding in 2006. Xaneth's triumph in the Battle of Edgewater earned him the position of Ki'yaal Weri, replacing the old conservative General Telin. Only weeks afterwards, Illyria added the duties of En U'Eliq to her former Mi'yik, Spike, a former insurgent himself, placing a half-breed on the Imperial Court for the first time in history. Such moves created great turmoil within the Court, especially from Illyria's then Qwa'ha Xahn, Knox Webster. During a period of deceptive peace, the Imperial Court itself became a political battleground, with Kirazi's army waiting in the background for Illyria's downfall…