Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-26245872-20141227060154/@comment-24685738-20150101213418

“Come, my people! Tall Papa asks you to return to his fold!” Alai called, through the streets of Hegathe. Few people even glanced his way. They were too ensnared in the ‘joy’ of the false god, Vulcan.

One of his men frowned, and leaned up. “High One, they do not seem to be noticing you.”

“I see that, Jazeen.” Alai said, giving him a smile. “We will have to find a way to make them listen.”

“High One…” A tall woman in a turban began. “How will you do that?”

“Give me a moment.” Alai said, sitting down on the steps of the fountain they were standing around.

He sat there for a few hours, never moving. He was very deep in thought. His companions simply kept brigands and thieves away from their High Priest.

“I’ve got it!” Alai exclaimed, standing up. He stepped onto the edge of the fountain, staring down at the crowds that moved through the Market. It was very popular these days, due to goods imported from High Rock and Sentinel.

“Gather around, my misled brothers and sisters!” The High Priest called. However, very few of the Redguards did. And the ones that did, well… They looked wary.

“Have you heard of the False God, Vulcan?” He asked, and all the assembled men and women nodded. In fact, very few of them knew-or cared-who Tall Papa was. The one thing that Alai knew that they all knew was one fact: They loved their culture. They loved the Redguard Nation.

Any attempt to ruin that would not end well with them.

That was why they had unified and fought so hard against the Altmer.

Patriotism.

And Alai was going to play with that.

“Have you heard how he persecutes your kinsmen?” Alai shouted. Of course, he was lying through his teeth. He had heard that this so-called god of Ash was, in fact, a rather benevolent and kind deity.

However, these people didn’t know that.

“Persecuting?” “Kinsmen?” “He’s hurting Redguards?” “He’s hurting Redguards!” The whispers spread through the small crowd, and slowly, the others in the Market swelled the ranks.

“The ash god controls these lands! He used his band of mongrels, the Blackwood Knights, to take over many of our major cities!” Alai called, calmly. His smile never left his face. He looked exactly like the part he was supposed to play-the prophet of the true Redguard god, preaching to his people.

“And then, strangely, High King Kinval endorsed the Cult of Vulcan! He abolished the Yokudan Pantheon, making Vulcan our chief diety! Kinval was a devoted member of our church! And now, somehow, he worships Vulcan?”

The crowd shifted, angrily, as what he was saying set in. Someone was controlling Hammerfell… And it wasn’t the High King.

“At least the Altmeri had the balls to actually attack, not use magic!” One of Alai’s men, who was among the crowd, shouted. Agreements rumbled throughout the crowd, as did shouts.

Alai raised his hands, to tell the crowd to quiet down. After a few minutes of angry calls, they did so.

“And now… To my first point.” Alai began, coolly. “The fact that he hurts our kinsmen.”

The crowd rumbled, again, and Alai raised his hands for silence. The people complied, slightly desperate for information.

“His roving band of infidels and mongrels strike down the wandering tribes of the desert! They claim that they are thieves, and murderers! But, we all know that this is simply not true! They neither harm nor hurt anyone! They have a hard enough time scraping out a life in the hot sand of the Desert! If it is a sin to kill a mockingbird (teehee), surely it is a grievous one to murder such innocent men and women!” Alai lied. But…. He was so convincing, so enthusiastic, it was very difficult to not believe him.

“I have seen the burned camps! The dying men and women… The children!” Alai yelled, appearing distressed and sad. “They… Commit… Atrocities against the poor children. They try to run… And yet… They’re cut down like wheat during a harvest.”

The crowd was enraged. They pushed and shoved each other, yelling, as they searched for someone to blame.

“The Armies of Hammerfell have been enlisted in the Order of Vulcan! The Guardsmen!” One of Alai’s men shouted, and Alai’s eyes widened. “N-”

He was cut off by the angry screams of a bloodthirsty mob, rushing at the guards. The guards promptly tried to defend themselves, but they were literally torn apart.

Within a few days, the Blackwood Knights would arrive, to put down this angry mob.

They would not find Alai. Nor would they find his men.

They would find a peasant army, in revolt.

The next time they would hear about this, they would find them in Dragonstar. Another mob. Another peasant army.

Alai had started something.

Something that his men wanted to finish.