Welcome to Gaia! ::

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Kaleh had just walked past the gates of Kielael and now stood at beginnings of the Snow Fields of Kielael, he whistled in wonder at the sight of the entrance: the gates themselves were always a marvel to behold. Nature had formed giant ice gates, ominous and foreboding, Kaleh wondered if it was perhaps a reflection of the country’s allegiance to the Dark Nation of Saieth. He shrugged it off as a more likely coincidence than some sign from the gods. Kaleh had little patience for the devout that claimed that the gods had indeed formed the world. Most alchemists were just as skeptical: there was no real evidence of the gods’ hand in the world, but Kaleh was distracting himself. He had come here for a reason not to be distracted by the sights or by internal musings on the puzzle of theology.

Kaleh had arrived to Kielael in search of an answer to a troubling question, at least Kaleh judged it to be troubling. The Princess of Kieael: Kisrafel Raifira, had been sending spies into Caehoul, the Mountain Land. In theory, she was searching for information on Rafale: the legendary Shadowmaster that had sparked the Great War. Kaleh had only heard of her efforts due the massive but secretive information network that worked for him. Despite the vastness of his network, his information network was only a few years old. As a result, it wasn’t perfect and he felt that he needed to both confirm the information and figure out the details before he enacted counter measures.

No one knew that Kaleh had inherited control of his father’s expansive merchant company, the White Rose, at the young age of 20. His father, now dedicating his time to assisting Kaleh’s mother in directing Sol Solis politics, had offered his children his merchant empire. Kaleh’s siblings had been uninterested in gaining control, but Kaleh had been delighted. He used it as an excuse to avoid his “diplomatic duties” as his mother called them. Upon Kaleh’s acquisition of full control he began to implement the changes he long thought useful. Changes to increase profits and ease the need of direct control on his part.

Kaleh had years earlier, convinced his father to start a branch of the company called the Black Thorn: a merchant company that acted solely in the Unholy Nation just as the White Rose did in the Holy Nation. At this time, Kaleh also helped his father carefully set up a system of checks and balances to prevent corruption from without and within so that the head of the empire would find maintaining control an easier task. A few years later, when he assumed control, Kaleh himself then set up the controlling company called the Grey Stem, to handle both companies and allow people to believe that this trifecta of companies was truly neutral from the struggles between the Nations.

This claim to neutrality is false; Kaleh is ultimately loyal to Sol Solis, his family, and its people. He used the resources and connections of his expansive merchant empire to create the Flower’s Shadow: his own private information network. Built upon the ground covered by the companies, the network quickly spread across the lands. Kaleh still has a lot of work ahead, the network is not yet finished, and ultimately its greatest strength is that no one is yet aware of its existence. To prevent losing this advantage, Kaleh has one ultimate directive for the network: preserve the secrecy of the Flower’s Shadow, no matter what the prize.

Nevertheless, Kaleh was now here, and he had work to do. He would now have to make his way to the Snow Fields of Kielael to the city of Kolearth, which sat quite a from the Princess’s Fortress. There he would work to confirm the information he had received. With a smile he walked off into the distance, opening a tome to pass the time.
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