While Tellerin is traveling along the dusty dunes of the Morocc Desert with Elihu, it’s time we shift our gaze unto the eventual destination of our hero, Morocc, the Oasis City; the Jewel of the Desert. After two centuries of warfare between the 12 main desert tribes, Al-Khawad, the leader of the Khalid tribe and the first ruler of Morocc ultimately united the other 11 desert tribes to form the desert city. Founded thus on the basis of apathy and greed, Morocc is just as what it is known as in the underworld of Rune Midgard – the City of Thieves.
The Morocc Unwanted…
“I say the die must have been loaded!” bellowed Granik. The burly Squad Leader of the Watch slammed his meaty fist on the table shattering both the wooden surface and several surrounding nerves.
“Easy, Granik, it’s just a game and surely you are not going to be surly over a few copper coins,” soothed Vesuvan, a lean, mousy fellow that earned him the nickname of Rat with the Watch guards of Morocc.
In case you are wondering what’s going on, Rat and Granik has just lost another fateful dice game with the other Watch personnel in their barracks after they have unloaded their swords and shields from a grueling 12 hour shift, thus losing a dice game after that is certainly not on Granik’s agenda. However, these two aren’t your run of the mill soldiers being paid meager wages to be on guard; rather the Morocc Watch is exclusively made up of Pronterean Crusaders and theirs’ is a whole different kettle of fish when it comes to guard duties.
Uninitiated observers may question the need for the Pronterean presence in a city that is highly resistant to the theocratic capital’s attempts to subjugate it under its religious rule under the cover of evangelism.
Doubts are largely based on the fact that although Morocc’s people chiefly believed in a monotheistic religion which have served as the state’s main belief backbone ever since the state’s founding since Al-Khawad saw the benefits of an unifying religion, their idea of the divine however, differed from the doctrines of the Pronterean Church who considered them thus as heretics.
The move to install a Pronterean military outpost came about as a reactive move after a bungled Moroccan house break-in resulted in a death of a Pronterean noble. The then Pronterean Pontiff immediately saw it as a fit reason to persuade Tristan II (the then King of Prontera) to send a small crack squad into the desert city to establish military presence on the pretext of protecting Pronterean businessmen and other dignitaries. This allowed a legitimate ground for the impregnation of Morocc by the Prontera Church. However, the often-fatal skirmishes between the local religious groups and the Church Crusaders have put the Pronterean efforts to convert Morocc from a “horde of savages” to a “refined city” to a standstill.
Now years have passed and both Prontera and Morocc have seen the change in political power and policies. While Morocc has maintained the tough stand in upholding religious integrity, he has softened the desert state’s policy with the presence of a foreign army in his city and has even allowed inter-marriages between Prontereans and Moroccans – a move unprecedented since the formation of Morocc. Prontera on the other hand, under the rule of Tristan III and HoJin as the state’s Chief Minister have turned their attention to threats looming further than Morocc and have therefore, put the desert city on hold.
The Crusaders’ barracks in Morocc thus suffered due to the cuts in the royal budget to upkeep them and the soldiers soon spent their time of inactivity (which was a lot now) playing dice and amusing themselves with frivolities as bored soldiers always do. What made it worse was when Prontera soon made the Morocc outpost into a form of dumping ground for Crusaders and other military and support personnel with a shady past. Rat and Granik for example were thrown (though their letter of employment said “dispatched” but it was shrugged off as euphemism) to Morocc after being involved in dalliances with some Pronteran whores despite their elite military standings. The dumping ground concept also justified the costs of maintaining a foreign outpost that came under fire back in the Pronterean senate.
“I wonder if I can even get out of this arid cesspit,” grumbled Granik, “look Rat, this place is the end all for our careers, and I knew I should have listened to my mother and become a merchant tending our family stall instead; I wished they would have just stripped us of our Crusader ranks and discharged us.”
“Aye, Granik, such is the cruel fate for us…the Morocc Unwanted, we are needed to maintain a presence here but they chose to rest their elites and use us instead,” laughed Rat, “but look on the bright side, I heard two more poor saps are going to join us today.”
“Huh?”
“That was the same response I gave this morning, and what’s more, it’s not just another Crusader this time, but a Priest is coming as well, ‘cause dear old Sister Seline is relieving her duties as Barrack Healer to go back home and manage the Church’s ministry in her old age.”
“She was the only one with a clean slate amongst us, I am going to miss her,” muttered Granik.
“Well, at least you are now faced with the task of warming up to our new brother-in-arms, Tamarig. I heard he was a high flying Captain in the Crusader Elite Corps until he gave another officer a bloodied nose, don’t ask me the reasons,” revealed Rat as he screwed up his nose, “the new Priest’s Holieus, but he is different, seems that he requested to be posted here…crazy bloke.”
“Now that makes me curious even if I have to say so myself, what makes somebody want to come to Morocc willingly? I heard of the Holieus guy before, it seems that he was almost made High Priest of the Pronterean Basilica after cleansing the dark city of Glast Heim but he rejected the offer. I wonder why…”
“Well, worry no more my ill fated dice friend, if we step in the great hall now, we can see them and what better moment than now since they have just arrived…” motioned Rat as he pushed the gates of the Great Hall open and walked in.
The babe classes in RO - the Dancer, Rogue (female), Priestess and the Huntress
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