The Fall of Hadran, or;
Yet Another Illustration of the Ill-Effects of Romance upon the State
Four and a half centuries ago, a cobbler's son by the name of Talifar was discovered to have an aptitude for scholarly pursuits. His father apprenticed him to the village's scholar, who finding that his abilities exceeded her own, sent him on to the magistry, who quickly realized that the best place for the boy was the Towers of Hadran, where the best and brightest magicians in the empire went to learn and practice their arts. There Talifar grew and learned and surpassed all his teachers with such alacrity that at the tender age of twenty he had fully mastered both the Earth, and Celestial magicks.
A few years later when the house mage of the Empress died, Talifar was selected to assume that place by the Empress Lytheria herself. The ceremony was great cause for celebration in Hadran, and so, before all of the people of the city, Empress Lytheria bestowed the Staff of the Mages to Talifar, and thence led him to a banquet in his honor.
Talifar had never before laid eyes on the Empress, for he had done little more than study and learn and practice his craft since he had arrived at the Towers. To his eye, the Empress was the most beautiful, kind and gentle noblewoman he had ever known. Her eyes were as green as a sea which he felt himself sinking into without even a last gasp. He stared at her all throughout the banquet, ignoring the suitors that flocked about her, vying for her hand and for the throne.
In the months that followed, Talifar came to know the Empress through many meetings that he was required to attend as House Mage. When his duties in the Towers did not interfere, he worked feverishly to produce new, indispensable magicks for her. It is rumored that he devised magicks through which a person could be rendered invisible, or fly through the air like a bird, or even speak to the dead without benefit of the Hero's Graveyard. All of these magicks are of course, lost to us now.
At last came the day which Talifar dreaded most. Lytheria announced that she would be wedded on Midsummer's Eve. She would not reveal the lucky suitor's name for fear that he would be obliterated by rivals. At his very next meeting with the Empress, Talifar released the hold that he had kept upon his heart, and told her of his love for her.
"Marry me," he said. "I can protect your empire far better than those muscle-brained lack-wits."
"Alas," she told him, "It cannot be. I am the Empress, and you, for all your power, are a cobbler's son."
"What does that matter?" Talifar cried. "Who will go against the will of the Empress?"
"My people matter," Lytheria replied calmly. "If something should happen to me, they will not follow you as Emperor. Chaos and Death will reign instead. When the time comes for our children to ascend the throne, the people will look to my brother's children, born of a noble, but petty Eastern woman instead, and war will take the throne. No Talifar, so long as we remain in Hadran what you ask cannot be."
At this, Talifar wailed a great cry of grief and fled the presence of the Empress. He locked himself in the highest room of the Celestial Tower, and only allowed a little food and water to be passed through a slot in the door. The scholars of the Towers trembled, for often throughout the night, they could feel great magicks being wrought. Whispers flew that Talifar had gone mad, turned to necromancy or even worse. He was named "the Mad Mage" by many members of the Court. Finally on the morning that dawned Midsummer's Eve, he sent for the Empress.
It is said that the Empress must have loved Talifar secretly, for dressed in her wedding gown, she climbed the four hundred stairs of the Tower, and came to his room. He flung open the door for her. Empress Lytheria gasped to see him standing within a formal magic circle, with strange figures inscribed on the floor about his feet. His Mage's Staff glowed with an unearthly light.
"Come," Talifar cried. "All is prepared."
"I do not understand," the Empress replied, frightened by his wild demeanor.
"You said that we could not be married in Hadran. "the Mad Mage replied. "So I have found a way to take us from here, to a place where nobility matters not at all, and we shall have children, and be happy."
The Empress gaped. "I cannot leave my people without a ruler."
"Let your brother take the throne, then." Talifar said impatiently.
"Come, it is nearly time!"
"No Talifar." the Empress said. "I am betrothed to another. I
cannot leave with you."
A look of desperation crossed the Mad Mage's face. "You must!" he said, "Or the ritual will fail!"
"Then it will fail." she replied.
"You do not understand," he cried, "You must come NOW!"
"No." she responded, and she turned to leave.
Talifar howled in anguish and the Staff of the Mages lost its glow, for the
most important component of the ritual had been his own hope. The Circle fell,
and mighty magicks rushed out, destroying the Mad Mage, the Empress, and in
fact the entire city of Hadran. Even the great magical gates to the Imperial
Palace were destroyed. So did the Empire of Hadran fall to the whim of Love.