Codice Inferni, Book of Promises (Part 1)

"O' ye faithful, thou that might serve in My name. Honor thy Vow, for it eternally binds Earth and Heaven, and therein shall fulfill My contract between the Great Flame and Man."

And thereafter it was decreed, that forever should children be born under the sign of the Great Flame, and be baptized in the holy waters warmed by the heat of the Flame, and thus should man's Soul be saved. Else, those unsaved Souls should be condemned to wander the void for eternity, knowing not the warmth of their Angel, nor the comfort of their loved ones.

Yet even so, heathens did multiply in the shadow of the Angel's mighty wings. Sinners, many and varied, flocked under the banner of the Great Enemy of the Deep, and rejected the Flame's generosity. With poisonous words and empty promises, the Deep did sway even the wisest of minds under Their control, and all the crooked and the wicked, too.

So the Angel did promise, "O' ye faithful, in thy service unto Me, know that thy Soul shall forever rest by My bosom; and in death, ye shall find peace forevermore. But all whom follow Mine Enemy, know thou shalt be punished and hunted for all thy days, for that is My promise unto you."

And so it was, forevermore, that the Souls of the cherished and the loved and the good and the brave would find rest in the Great Flame, and receive eternal peace and comfort. And all those who coveted greed and power and wickedness, would know only darkness and cold in the infinity of the afterlife.

In that promise, so did the armies of the Flame vow to fight against the darkness, to uphold their contract and keep the forces of the Great Enemy at bay. And of all the promises made, all the promises kept, one should arise from the fractured ruins of the northern lands.

He was a humble man Blessed by the Flame; yet by his feet flowed crimson waters of fire and blood, and at his back were the dark forests of the Deep, and thus did he take the name Rose-wald. And he followed the great river from the mountains, down into the barbarous lands of the Enemy, and he ushered light into the places that had known only darkness.

There, in those heartlands, the first Rose-wald built a great capital, and Promised the Angel a glorious kingdom in worship to the Flame. And that place should be called Rose-white, in honor of the crimson fires, and the white palace of yore. In generations to come, the kings would be called Roswald, and the city renamed Rosweiss; but not once was the Promise to the Flame broken.