Nalin Wren

World News

Stories abound as to where Lord Blackthorn has been for the duration of the current crisis that grips our land. Via an inside contact close to Blackthorn I was given some insight and details into Blackthorn�s travels. Within days of the fall of Trinsic, Lord Blackthorn disappeared and was not seen again until our liege Lord British gave his speech last week. Prior to the speech Lord Blackthorn held counsel with Nystul, the court mage, in his castle on the lake. My source related the following information from this meeting.

It seems Blackthorn had, using great magicks, disguised himself and traveled to the lands from which this plague of evil has spewed forth � the lands of Minax. He described a land not unlike our own except for the foul corruption, which seemed to be almost alive and spreading out in every direction. He told of a city very much like out own beloved Trinsic with walls that appeared to be made of black rock. Upon closer inspection he was surprised to see that the stone was not black, but simply scorched and covered with a fine soot. Rubbing aside the soot, a fine polished white marble could be seen. Looking around, not a speck of this fine marble could be seen anywhere in the city. The whole of this place had been devastated and left to rot.

Outside of the city Blackthorn said he saw creatures that were strange, and yet familiar. Among these was a skeleton bearing a bow and seeming to glow with a sickening yellow aura. Nystul confirmed that these beasts had been part of Minax�s invasion of Trinsic and that they were quite a formidable foe.

The land itself was stripped and barren. Nowhere in his journeys did he find one tree standing. All had been cut and used to fulfill various needs. The grasses were brown and rotting. The entire landscape was simply a wasteland of decay. This world was a dying world.

As the story is related to me, I am told a look of sheer grief struck Lord Blackthorn�s face as he began to describe the people of this land. Beyond the massing groups of warriors, bearing the cold deathly looks of men who would sooner perish then lose a fight for their leader, were the common people; a people who have had their wills been broken. A land of strong but sullen men giving their lives willingly at the whim of their mistress, Minax. She ruled the land and none would stand against her. Those who tried perished, and not slowly I am assured. As seen in Trinsic, men were hung from stakes and fires were lit beneath them. Other ghastly things, I dare not describe, were done to those who would fail their mistress.

Finally, Blackthorn told Nystul he would not oppose what the mage and Lord British had planned. Only offering caution as to the consequences.

It would seem that there might be more behind Minax invading our land then the lust for revenge. It seems she is a ruler with very little left to preside over. Except now she wishes to reign here in our beloved Britannia.

From the Britannia News Network - The Journal of Ultima Online, April 26th, 2000.