An+Outsider's+View+of+Predallen

=__**An Outsider's View of Predallen**__=

A long time ago, Predallen was in chaos. Local lords fought each other while pirates pillaged and burned the land, raping, killing, and kidnapping the people here. The people of Predallen felt they were alone in their struggles for safety against these barbarians. In their desperation, the people of Predallen cried out to Odin for help. Odin raised up two champions, the Sisters Tatemae and Hönne, to unite the land and defend the people As different as Ice and Fire, they could bring healing and freedom and also strength and order, They were successful, and the nation of Predallen was born. A ruling dynasty was created and the various orders were set up to serve the people. The Azure Order was created to help the people in every community, to help the aged, poor and sick until they were again ready to fend for themselves. The Green Order was to educate the people, spreading knowledge everywhere they went. The Ruby Order selected unwanted or poor children and set them on a path where they could live productive lives. The Order of the Snow oversaw the other orders, keeping them working for the good of all the people. Finally, the Black Brotherhood was created to rule over the seas and keep the enemies of Predallen safely far away. After a few thousand years, now Predallen has become its own worst enemy. The two sisters, opposites in so many ways, no longer work together as Odin designed. They are now at war, and even 100 years after most of the fighting, the Sisters remain enemies. Tatemae and the western half of Predallen, winners of the war, continue life much as they always had, while the east simmers in secret rebellion, waiting for Hönne to return. In the East the orders use their powers as they had never been used before. The sick and the elderly avoid the Azure order, knowing their charity comes with a price: their very souls will be forfeit to create the blue lights found along the roads. When they are too old to "contribute to society" they are taken away for sacrifice. The Green's propa-ganda is despised by everyone as they preach obvious falsehoods that the people must clap to or face judgment. The Ruby Order choose the children of the rebellious families, kidnap them, and brainwash them into hating their own families as enemies of the state. Such families face blackmail, to submit to the orders or lose their children. The Reds also provide the children for the human sacrifices on the altars on Tatemae's and Hönne's Mountains. Tatemae gains power from these sacrifices, while the gentle Hönne is kept in a state of madness by them. The Order of the Snow, even more than the rest, use fear and arrogance to rule over the people while hiding their faces for fear of retribution. Finally, the Black Brotherhood who brought me here. I had never heard of Predallen while living in a city of the Free Traders, the name by which the outside world knows Hönne's secret trading order. This technically means I have always been a citizen of Predallen. However, one night while walking home I was set upon, captured and sold to the Black Brotherhood. Many of those around me were directly captured by the Black. Suddenly a slave, I faced months of starvation, hard labor, and eventually gladiatorial games, all against my will and all for the entertainment of the people of Predallen. Countless slaves such as I have been forced to fight and kill each other, so the people here can be entertained. And they call us barbarians!! Predallen has gone full circle, and under Tatemae become the very thing they hated so long ago. They are now the pirates, raiding and kidnapping from across the world, bringing their victims here to die for their entertainment or to live their lives in slavery to the people here. Knowing of the existence of Predallen, none of us may ever go home again. Meanwhile the orders rule the people in the East more ruthlessly than any warlord from long ago ever could. Under Tatemae, Predallen has become as barbaric as any society in the world.