Orthis

An old man, whose voice was the best one in the village for a story, called out to the children of Orthis. They all came running and screaming to him, knowing he had a new story for them. He spoke in his gravely voice, barely more than a whisper and said,” Gather around children, and listen to the story of you ancestors.” With that, the children all hushed and he cleared his throat.

“You all know that Orthis, your home, is in the middle of two big landmarks that protect it from attack, though attacks by anything in Rebellos are rare. The first is Lake Ardis on the southwestern side of the kingdom. This huge lake serves as an excellent fishing spot for our people. If you walk down a little bit, on its beach, you will find a place that receives trade from Helmdon, which sails its wares up the Gwen River. 

The second landmark is the Ondrix Mountains that surround every other side of our kingdom. You could say that Orthis is nestled inside these mountains. Thus, it is very cold during winter and has summers about as warm as those in Alaska. It is beautiful, though, because when you climb far up the mountains to where the snow caps are, you can see for many miles, and even see the west coast of the Ardis Lake. The rest of the land is generally covered with trees indigenous to the far north.
There only one other landmark that is truly remarkable: the Heavenly Spires. These are two incredibly tall, perfectly smooth mountains that stretch like, literally, fingers from the ground. They can be seen from the peak of the Ondrix Mountains, but are pretty far north of Orthis. It snows a lot here, especially during the winter. But of course, you know that as well as I do.”

He looked down to see little girl with beautiful brown eyes, and hair, tugging his sleeve. He bent down to hear what she was saying and laughed. His laugh sounded like a piece of chocolate melting in your mouth, or like one of the most beautiful songs you have ever heard. The children crowded around to hear what she had said, but he waved them back and continued.

“Yes, Yes, You are right. The city of Orthis does have two parts. The first part is by the lake. This part is the major market district and trade center. It is right next to the Ardis Lake. The second part is in the mountains a little ways. A road from the lake port eastward into the mountains will bring you to the central city, which includes the residential district, royal palace, and non trade buildings. Basically, it is a very large city. That is probably where most of you live. Most of the houses are made from stone mined from the mountains, but that is not to say that there are no wooden houses. For trade, some of you may use cerpinthacy.  This main raw material is so rare that the city has become rich by its trade.

We have no enemies except the wild enemies in the mountains; we are basically a peaceful community.

As I said a moment ago, the people of Orthis are peaceful. They are hardy folk, though not as gruff as the people of Rillaven. Poverty isn’t much of a problem here, as the city is very rich and has had almost no experience with war. They are rather reticent, and they rarely see visitors. The only visitors they do get are traders and pilgrims heading to the heavenly spires.

Our culture is young and developing, so it’s not as rich as, say, Sundreth or Matul, but they are definitely unique. We have several major temples to each one of our gods. Most stories, unlike this one, contain mainly of warriors overcoming magical creatures or harsh environments, since they have little experience with battle. In fact, hardly any of the families that live here have weapons.”

 He looked down to see again, a child, different this time, was tugging his sleeve. This one had red, unruly, curly hair. His eyes shone like the blue ocean as he interrupted. “But, that isn’t the true story. Is it. That is only what he wants to tell people. Right?” The old man bent over to pick him up, but he jutted out his chin with defiance at the old man and ran back to where he was before. The old man sighed and looked down. He softly said,” Yes, you are correct. But no one is supposed to know that. The king is a cruel dictator who rules us all, but pretends for it not to be like that. Whenever someone comes, we must act like we are the happiest in the world.” He didn’t see the man in the deep blue hood a few feet away listening to their story looked up, his eyes widening. He ran off, the cloak bellowing behind him. He went back to his home and told his king of what he had heard, and the servants in the room also heard. And so it went, servant telling servant, or king telling king. Eventually, the dictator was over thrown and the old man was re-discovered as the new king, and his rule was a quiet one; happy, but quiet.