The kingdom of Trymere has long been a prosperous one. Located on a small island just off the coast of Europe, it's many harbors and port cities make it a vital hub for trade and transport. Not all is as it would seem in this city of gold. While a well fed populous kept rebellion at bay, it didn't seem enough for the more noble of stature.

For many years Trymere has been plagued by a civil war of sorts. Not your typical civil unrest among the people as a whole, but stirred higher up in the hierarchy. Noble pitted against noble in a lust for power and thirst for self-recognition by the crown.

It was a lust that would not be sated with mere titles or pats on the head for good behavior.

It didn't help that brutal savages that had once only thrived in the seas were landing on Trymere's northerly shores. Raiding parties were ravishing coastal towns, sinking ships and razing the countryside. A cry for war rose amongst the nobles. Most would not fight but send those beneath them in their stead and sit back, ready to reap the plunder.

Split into eight provinces, Trymere is first and foremost ruled by it's king, but responsibility of select provinces is portioned off to the lesser nobility of the realm- each granted titles depending on their wealth and over all status in society, heritage and ancestry that reaches back five hundred years. For some of these nobles it was not enough, and it was these men that called strongly for war or some sort of retaliation against the Outlanders.

The king opted for a talk of peace, of a treaty, and sent an emissary of sorts to meet with the leader of the Outlanders, a man by the name of Iskender Kudret. A time and date for a meeting was set. It would be on Trymere soil in the province of Southernmarch. The province was ruled the Duke Von Drake who's father had recently met his ended in an ill fated duel over the honor of a woman... or so the tale had spread. He opened his home to the king and even offered to conduct the meeting within the great hall of Southernmarch Keep.

The meeting with Iskender went smoothly, in return for much needed resources, Iskender would keep to the waters and off the shores of Trymere. No more razing of small towns and farmland, he would even help protect and keep the seas clear of other incoming threats. Duke Von Drake, it would seem, was not all that he appeared. The night before the treaties were to be signed, cloaked by darkness with a dagger he had stolen from Iskender, he murdered the king in cold blood, leaving the weapon behind, embedded in the king's chest.

The vicious act broke the peace talks and Von Drake and several other nobles called for the men of Trymere to come to arms, to fight for their home, their land and their families.

Without a king to lead them, and the crowned Princess Isabella not being of age to take the throne herself, the nobles set up a council to decide and war loomed on the horizon. Another proposition was made, one that involved the future sovereign of Trymere. The princess had yet to name a husband, a man to rule beside her as king. It was the Duke Von Drake that presented the council with a letter penned in the king's hand. The letter was a marriage contract stating that the Duke of Southernmarch was to become his Isabelle's husband and Trymere's king.

Unwilling to believe such a thing -- for her father had once assured her that he would consult her before settling on a husband -- Isabelle fled the capitol in the dead of night. While she could not know for sure the nature of the man called Iskender she was certain that he had not killed her father. A man smart enough to continually raid their shores without getting caught would not be so stupid as to leave blatant evidence of his deeds. With his ships still docked at port in Southernmarch, Isabelle decided to seek out the fugitive and supposed murderer of her father for she believed he had the answers she sought to shed light on the truth of her father's death.

With betrayals running deep, and brother feuding with brother, is any place safe enough to hide? How is one to determine friend from foe, and better yet, how is one to keep one step ahead of an enemy who has eyes everywhere?