I was there when the great armada left the harbour of Egorian on the 1st of Pharast, a Fireday.
It left under good omens, so said Arastus the Infernal Wizard of House Thrune. It left with much fanfare and even Her Infernal Majestrix, Queen Abrogail II of the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune was there to send the fleet on its way.
She looked regal and stately despite her great age. But the years had been kind to her infernal majesty, or perhaps it was some darker power that sustained her even yet.
During the ceremony Her infernal Majesty handed a great sceptre of magnificent beauty, bedecked with jewels and gold to her great granddaughter and 23rd in line for the crown, Lady Dessra Thrune, the Queens voice in the “new” Varisia.
To Generals Kastion Starkagarr II and Marduke Vadrian-Thrune she bestowed Helms with great feathered plumes in red and black with the emblem of Cheliax on the brow, emblazoned in red that glowed when worn, and to Bladmaster Sigmund Krase of the Order of the Scourge she gave him a large scroll containing the Law of Cheliax sealed with her infernal Majestrix’s seal.
The music to follow was thunderous and the cheering of the people was deafening but it was all but muted by the sound of the Cannons firing a salute as the fleet set sail.
Sailing South down the Adivian River the fleet passed through the mouth of the river into the open ocean sometime on the evening of the 3rd day of Pharast, it was an a Moonday.
Until this point all attention had been placed on the greatness and the splendour of the army, the huge power of the vessels and the mighty men and women, generals and lords and ladies sworn to pacify the wilds of Varisia in the name of the empire.
But few could imagine that as the festivities raged on deck of the war galley Braxus, celebrating this great endeavour, that down below in the quiet hold of the massive ship several young people, nobodies to be sure, would meet for the first time and this meeting would change the course of Varisian and Chelaxian history forever.