20 A Tale of Two Kingdoms

Once there was a Goblin Kingdom ruled by a benevolent Emperor Diodynoeas. He had 8 children, 4 sons and 4 daughters. His Middle son was Arphoelus who was the greatest soldier and his youngest daughter Ellyss was the greatest scholar. The king loved all his children equally.

However, he had to choose only one as his successor. He had a vast empire that he had divided among all his blood relations and he would choose one successor for the entire kingdom, while his other children will rule different regions within his kingdom. The king chose Arphoelus to rule to no one's surprise. He was the greatest warrior in the entire kingdom. 

However, Arphoelus was greedy. He not only wanted to supervise the ruling of the kingdom, he also wanted to take control over all the region and sectors within the kingdom. For years, Kings have allowed the many sectors of Goblins to independently stay and rule themselves as long as they created no trouble within the entire Empire. However, Emperor Arphoelus wanted to be the sole ruler. Blinded by power, ambition and greed he tried to exile his other siblings to take control over their lands. However, his father wouldn't let that happen. This led to a great dispute among them. 

Emperor Diodynoeas was ageing and not quite a match to his Warrior son. Also, Arphoelus had access to the greatest army which was handpicked by him and they followed his orders blindly. They defeated the Former emperor and Arphoelus exiled all his blood relations including his father. 

Arphoelus was treacherous. He not only exiled his family, he also planned to secretly massacre them when they were out in the wild so that they would not rise against him. Everything went according to his plan, he planted his trusted soldiers to kill his exiled family while they were out in the wild. They were successful. His father and his siblings put up a heroic fight, but they were no match to his well trained soldiers. They were grievously wounded and they succumbed to their injuries. All except one. 

Ellyss, the youngest daughter always wanted to be a magi. Magi are those who travel the entire realm to collect information about every existing civilization and study them to gain knowledge and help the empire. Ellyss had an extraordinary power. Her wounds would magically heal. She had kept this skill a secret for the fear of being ostracized. However, when his brother killed his entire family in front of her eyes, Ellyss helplessly watched. Her own grievous wounds healed in a short time, but the wound of losing her family would never heal. Ellyss was determined to get revenge and restore the Goblin Kingdom to it's former glory.

Ellyss was an intelligent and resourceful woman. Whatever she lacked in strength, she made up with her wits. Ellyss had the most thorough knowledge of the Kingdom's entire layout including all of it's secret passageways and ancient charms. She knew what no one else did including her brother Arphoelus. Arphoelus, being a self obsessed warrior Prince, never paid much attention to wisdom or knowledge. For him, knowledge was the weapon of the coward, not strong enough to yield the blade. His arrogance led him to exile all the wise magis from him Kingdom. He exiled all the females Goblin warriors too, for him the female race was not meant for warfare. His kingdom thus garnered many enemies of their own in no time.

Ellyss was aware of her brother's pride and foolishness. Using her powers, she managed to stay hidden from his rader, while he happily believed that there'll be no one to resist his authority anymore. In the meantime, Ellyss started creating her own army. 

All the exiled female Goblin warriors and magis found their place under Princess Ellyss' leadership. The captain of the female warriors, Maefhyss was Ellyss' dearest friend and confidante. Together, they hatched a plot to overthrow the tyrannt ruler. They made elaborate plans, combining the strength of the warriors with the wisdom of the magi under the able leadership of Ellyss, who was a reflection of her affable father. Time and again, it has been proved that power combined with wisdom is the deadliest combination. So it happened this time too. 

The historical "War of the Kinfolk" took place two years later. Ellyss' army launched a sudden attack into the fortress of the Goblin Kingdom. Arphoelus was not prepared for this, as he always believed his Kingdom walls to be impenetrable. What he didn't know, were the secret passageways of entry into the Kingdom and as he had exiled almost everyone who knew about them, he was at loss to understand the situation now. His army was very strong, thoroughly trained in warfare, but they lacked skills of battlefront. They had no proper formation, no guidance and no understanding of how a real war is fought. King Arphoelus had spent his days drunk, gambling and wasting his money in all sorts of ridiculous pleasures. He never thought there would be an attack, so he never trained his army well. Overconfidence and ignorance brought about his mighty downfall!

The war went on for 41 days and was one of the bloodiest wars ever fought. Arphoelus' army put up a strong resistance, but soon they were outnumbered. Ellyss' army seized the Kingdom and executed all those soldier's responsible for her family's death. All except Arphoelus. Ellyss' was never the monster that he was. She could not bring herself to execute the only remaining member of her family. So, she exiled him. 

Out in the woods, Arphoelus dreamt of revenge. His heart was filled with cold fury and his days went by imagining his sister's head on a spike adorning the castle walls. He traveled wide and found many a kingdoms. Eventually he married a nymph princess, Lluenna and inherited their kingdom. He set up an army again. He became a ruler again. He had a son. He had a family. His followers from the Goblin Kingdom joined him soon, after escaping. They all settled down under his rule. He named his new Kingdom Arphoelus. But his heart was never at rest, all he dreamt was of revenge! His passion for revenge passed down generation after generation. He attacked the Kingdom several times, but he could never defeat them. Arphoelus drew his last breath, chanting his sister's name and revenge. 

Meanwhile, Ellyss, true to her words had rebuilt the Empire to it's former glory. She named her Kingdom Mefhaelore after her beloved commander Maefhyss, who had sacrificed her life in the battlefield. Under, Ellyss' able leadership, Mefhaelore prospered in wealth, wisdom and glory. She married and had her children. All her wisdom and skills passed on. 

 Thus, the Goblin's of Mafhaelore possessed a unique power of self healing wounds. They inherited everything that Ellyss' had. The knowledge of the Kingdom's secrets were passed on generation after generation. Mafhaelore, by rule, has always been ruled by female Goblin's. Knowledge is valued as greatly as strength in Mafhaelore, making it a hub of Magis.

The enemity between Arphoelus and Mafhaelore continued to this day. Each trying to outrun the other and prove their own supremacy. Countless battles have been fought, all over ego and birthright that each believed to be their own.