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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alyx" data-source="post: 91459" data-attributes="member: 623">The wind whips around a silent figure, sending his crimson cloak waving.  He is kneeling, waiting, watching.  His green eyes steadily flicker as he turns his head slowly from the southwest to the east.From the southwest a red hand stretches over the world.  A foul enveloping taint emanates from that place with cruel intensity.  All Oerth seems to tremble from that taint.  The sun is struck in the very sky.  The ground moans in pain.  Red ooze creeps forth from dark pools of bloodlike liquid.  The red elf favors that crimson colour, but this approach is defilement twice over to him.  Red means danger and death, is that not enough?  Why now taint, as well?Then from the east approaches a different taint.  Here the light is met by an opposing cloud of floating darkness.  Light is overborne by an evil blackness, a much more tangible taint that is nonetheless subtle enough to accomplish what it desires.  And oh yes, the shadow is indeed alive.  The red elf is not fooled.  This shadow is not satisfied by peace.  It would not survive in a land without war.  It only wishes to kill, to torture, to attack."How can this end?"  He whispers softly, a silent proclamation of doom.  When one is surrounded by shadow and taint, by failed dreams, by fallen comrades and evil tidings, hope seems lost; or at least far away.  What can one do to fight the invincible darkness, the inexorable defilement, when all the earth itself seems to fight with them against you?Then the red elf stands, his left hand flourishing with a habitual twist that he takes comfort in.  A blade springs into his crimson glove out of nothing, a blade tinged in a soft glow of ruby and scarlet.  He stands tall once again.  His mind forces unwelcome thoughts into an unconscious box.  He speaks strongly into the open, still clear air about him.  “If we do not win, we can at least stop the tide from flowing, if only for a time.  Such is our fate before, and such is our fate now, and my hope is that our future fate will also remain thus.”With those words, he turns to the west.When one’s fingers are to be used to plug a broken dike, it is best to bring an army to aid you in the effort.  And to the west was that army.  The nations of Celestial and Nippon led the center, endless rows of dedicated swordsmen and peerless lancers on horse after horse.  These horses were chargers, trained to flinch never in the face of combat and against the mightiest of spells.  With this physical force came another one of monks, clerics and wizards, dedicated forces that trained daily against one another in mock duels.On the left wing was another force, a legion of elves from Varnaith, borne over the seas in defense of another nation.  Every man and woman in that army fought as a unit.  The hierarchy of command was clear and yet flexible if needed.  This army knew order and embraced it even amid the heat and flurry of battle.On the right wing came another force, the mariner elves of the Lendores.  They had seen much action in this war, be it on the water against their natural enemies or in the black swamp in a desperate flurry of slashing cutlasses and knives.  They were veterans now, they had learnt how to fight on land the hard way.  Each soldier was a warrior trained to attack fiercely and to finish any opposition.But it was in the vanguard that the heart of the army came.The forces of Celene marched solemnly through the remains of their nation, grim fighters in battered armour that nonetheless still held.  They marched with very little sound.  Something inside them had been destroyed – each had lost a home, a family, and friends – and that had scraped away their soft exterior, leaving only a rock inside.  As the sword is forged on fire, the hearts of the olves had been forged for battle.  They did not want blood, did not care for hate, and did not yearn for revenge.  What they wanted was to fight, to die if they could, and in doing so strike a blow to shake the world.The red elf stood now on the crest of a silent hill, looking at this force.  He had forged these separate and disparate peoples together, long ago.  Now it had led to this, a force that would have outnumbered and outfought any other in the days of the Greyhawk wars.  Now, after recent events, it was not so imposing a force.  But it was, perhaps, enough.“If one is doomed to die and fade into the night, perhaps it is best to do so with a song.”With these words, the red elf turned to solidly face the east.  The shades would not remain content with what they had.  And when evil moved to strike, the forces of the sun would burn away whatever darkness attacked it.  Or die trying.</blockquote>

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