My brethren, kith and kin of Valkanren,
Five months ago we stood a broken nation, collapsed by the deceit and malice of our enemies. Our country had been cast asunder, our resolve weakened, and our visions none. What many saw of Valkanren was a failed concept: an intention to restore dignity to the medieval world that had failed—an impossibility in a field of cupidity and monotony.
Yet we marched on, for it was the determination and unparalleled loyalty of our members that brought our nation back from the dust and into the light. You refused defeat, you refused to be besmirched and lamed. Valkanren was more than a group—it was a meaning, and that meaning you stood for through thick and thin. And through your dedication each batter and bruise our rivals dealt was healed, and reforged with better strength and greater resolve.
Our arm has grown stronger, our cry has grown louder. Our country grows better. We will not serve nor be chained nor be broken; Valkanrians take what is theirs.
I am proud to be the King of Valkanren, for the only honour greater than to lead an army is to boast a family. That’s what we are, for even in the darkness and the silence we were a brotherhood and a sisterhood, helping one another with aged hands and war-torn tenacity. We have ever remained a constant community.
I also have an announcement to make:
To counter the Danarite annexation of Veldeste, I have ordered the realm’s most potent architects to assemble a castle on the coast of the Straits of Ellgyr. This fortress will be named Alryne, and the land thereabouts called Alryneshire. This county is larger than Cyngvar, and along a cliff-struck coast. I have not yet decided upon a potential Count of Alryne.
There will also be an upcoming tournament to follow the war with the Danarite Order, to which Valkanrians and Danarites are invited to partake. The victor will receive a prize of one-hundred-and-fifty gold coins (R$) and will be knighted.
Finally, I would like to thank all of you for your services and contributions to the glory of our kingdom, and bid you all the best of luck in the wars to come. As our ancestors have always hailed, ‘Glory to Valkanren!’
~ Alben III
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