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[Deshar]

Natarim was once a violent land of war and destruction. About a millenia ago, a special group of people calling themselves The Neutral Alliance appeared and put an end to this fighting, or so the legends say. But something doesn't seem right with these tales, peace is fragile and those with power are returning. Just who are The Neutral Alliance and what is the destiny of this land?

[Deshar]

Several Million years ago The Great Neutral Alliance, now known as The Neutral Alliance, came to the lands we call Natarim. But our story starts several years before then, in a war to which knowledge has been forbidden, the Conflict of Natarim.

But first a little background on Natarim, unlike the lands around it, Natarim thrives because of its diversity between magic and machine. The Land of Anarim to the west is a land of magic where the land is beautiful but its countries filled with war and dictatorships. The Land of Taradin to the north is a peaceful land filled with machinery and ruled by the seven Lords.
Natarims lands are neither peaceful nor are they beautiful, the wars of many thousands of guilds and Alliances have robbed the land of its beauty and peace. But even so, there are some who seek to return the land to what it once was. What was it like before? I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that, anything regarding that period of life was the first thing to go when The Neutral Alliance arrived. But however much they tried, they were not able to keep me from obtaining journals of the lives of some within Natarims great war. Knowledge I now pass to you young ones, so that you may prevent the mistakes of the past and see who the Neutral Alliance really are for yourselves.

We begin our story, 10 years before TNA's arrival, with our protagonist Yenza of Hyme...

[Deshar]

Chapter 1: Part 1: The Guilds of Natarim.
Even during this time the name Yenza was well known, one of the strongest members of the guild Seventh Court. Seventh Court was also one of the top three guilds of Natarim, alongside the Masters of Conflict and the Heroes of Calamity. The other two top guilds were alway at odds, warring over the smallest things just to prove their side was better, the Seventh Count however simply strived to keep the peace between these two.

The Seventh Court Head Quarters was infact a large town, everyone living within was a guild member or a friend of a guild member. Here is where Yenza spent most of this time as of late, he spent it next to the fountain in the main square watching the water rush down the fountain and then back up the pipes in an endless cycle of containment and futility. But the water never gave up in its struggle, flowing round in hopes that the next cycle would give way to its escape. The part that made Yenza smile was the splashes of water over the edge of the fountain, although the plight seemed endless, those that did not give up escaped one day.
It reminded him of Natarim, the way people would rise up in guilds and fall only to try again with another guild, trying to escaped the cycle of destruction to their own towns. Those who kept at it succeeded and they would escaped to live how they wanted, those who gave up would return to their normal lives within the captivity of the guilds that seemed to pop up daily.
The Seventh Court was one of such escapies, built from small as the Court of Freedom the guild failed many times. It lost members and cycled through destruction by other guilds and creation to be reborn again, finally finding strength once renamed to the Seventh Court. At the time Yenza was a new member of the guild, weak as he was he had much potential and rose through the ranks quickly.
The Seventh Court finally took its place as one of the well known guilds, next to the already famous Masters of Conflict and Heroes of Calamity. Those two guilds had been only created once, powerful fighters constructed those guilds and they rampaged until they were recognised. But since they rose to power together and the leaders of them were already bitter rivals, who had each wanted to be the leader in an individual guild together before they disagreed and went their seperate ways, they were eternal rivals and despised each other. They warred frequently and damaged areas in the conflict, and to this day they still do. Yenza remembered hearing that the Third Court had been destroyed by those two guilds warring, along with the Fifth Court who tried to stop their conflicts. How foolish their guild was back then.
Beyond the three most known and powerful guilds were the rest of the guilds who varied in numbers and power, the most iconic of which was The Keepers of Natarim, A guild for the magically inclined. It was rumored to be as strong as the three leading guilds but the rumor was never proven.
Yenza dipped his hand into the waters, noting the cold he felt as the water touched his skin and envoloped it, trying to escape by clinging to its being. He figured that was what Natarim needed, a helping hand to guide people out of the chaos of warring guilds. A controller to keep guilds in line and help the people return to their freedom. Still, no such thing would arrive, Yenza was sure of it. He removed his hand from the water and stared at it as the water dripped off it and onto the ground, to freedom.
"It's sad isn't it?" Behind him, the voice of a man he called his friend came. He walked over and sat down beside Yenza. "The cycle of water trying to escape, only to succeed and fade away outside of the system that held them captive and safe."
"We think so differently my friend. But enough of that Matris, shouldn't you be on your assignment?" Yenza asked his friend, drying the wet hand on his shirt.
"I finished it already, piece of cake." Matris replied, gesturing to show how proud he was of his achievement. But from there the conversation quietened, it was a while before they said another word, only the sound of the fountain could be heard between them.

"Well I must be going." Yenza suddenly announced to his friend. "I have somewhere to be." He stood up, dusting himself off. The fountain may have been clean but it seemed to gather dust from time to time and there was no harm in dusting it off himself.
"Alright, take care then." Matris also decided to stand up, he'd come here to see his friend so there was no point in staying if his friend was just going to walk away. He was actually first to leave, waving his hand over his head as he walked away to jesture a goodbye.
Yenza headed off after watching his friend leave, he made his way to the towns gates and yelled to guards keeper that watched the gates. "Hey! Open the gates." The guardsman nodded and began opening the gates, there was no need to check if Yenza was allowed to pass, after all everyone here knew him. And so he headed out through the Spirit Canyon.
The Spirit Canyon was an interesting place, Yenza always felt twice as strong as usual here, as if the Canyon was empowering him. The canyon itself was huge, it towered high above him as he walked through the maze of routes towards the meeting point. The Canyon was a mess of mazes, with travellors often getting lost it was a great place for a guild to build a home base. Most other guilds would not beable to find their way to a guild located here but that was sometimes a problem for the guild itself if they didn't know the way.
Yenza had been through these canyons so many times that he felt he could navigate them blindfolded, although truth be told he still hadn't been down every route there was here.

After a while he arrived at 'The Secret Place', it was a silly name but they'd named it while they were still young so they couldn't think of much else to call it. It was a wider area with a circukar tuft of a grass in the middle. His childhood friend Chandra of Hyme was already waiting for him with an angry expression on her face.
"You're late, Yazzy. Where have you been?" She asked when he arrived, her stirn timekeeping was a thing of legend, along with her bizzare nicknames.
"I had a talk with Matris." He lied, he always stretched the truth when he was late for something and it didn't matter what he said really. It never made Chandra any less angry or anymore forgiving.
"Ras can talk to you some other time, you promised we'd go exploring in the ruins today and it's already the afternoon." She complained.
"I don't see what's wrong with st-"
"Everything is wrong, it's getting late, lets go." Chandra interrupted, she never liked his excuses and wasn't falling for the 'we have all the time in the world' ploy.
"But I just got h-"
"Come on, lets get moving." She interrupted again.
Yenza wasn't going to get to rest it seemed, she was having none of it.

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