Aliases are alternative forms of a reference. They can include actual aliases for characters, nicknames, plural variations, gendered versions of some [Classes], and even typos.
Tall, gray walls and spearmen and archers in towers that keep an eye out for monsters. This is Celum, or something like that. It’s a city, one of the southernmost in this region before the High Passes. They have a [Mayor], but they don’t pay fealty to any noble family directly, so that makes them a city-state*. And that’s my destination for the moment.
“Invrisil, sir Laken? This city does have an elected leader—Regisand Curle is the appointed [Mayor] for the moment. However, if I may say so, he is more of an administrator than one to set policy.”
“The city is destitute, my King. The [Trader] received offers from the ruling [Mayor] to exchange his wares for promises made against future payment, but refused. As he was part of the larger network of [Merchants] his goods were not taken, but he had to fend off [Thieves] along his entire trip. He was fearful of being ambushed despite the presence of his guards. What was more, not all of the thieves were [Thieves].”
“I am simply walking. These people have chosen to join me. Tell your [Mayor] that I do not intend to enter the city unless invited. You have a King’s word on it. I would swear that in blood if it were not so inconvenient. Tell him we will not attack without being provoked. Make that clear to him.”
“My people! We have come to Rast, but they will not open their gates for me! The [Mayor] claims that I still lie asleep! But you have seen my face! You know I have woken!”
Not without blood. Trey heard it later. Some people had fought and died to prevent the gates being opened. The [Mayor] had fled, and been torn apart by a mob. That was the darkness in Flos’ victory.
Inside the carriage, the middle-aged man, the [Mayor] of the small city known as Leadenfurt, found himself face-to-face with a stern, steely-eyed woman. Her name was Ressa, and she politely let go of him and steered him into one of the padded seats. The man gulped as he saw a woman sitting across from him.
The [Mayor] sat up, conscious of Ressa, sitting quietly next to him. Staring at him. Not that he was intimidated by the look or the proximity—Wullst had been a veteran [Rider], a soldier for many years and he was an excellent fighter. It was just that you heard stories about Magnolia’s maids.
“I’m afraid not. Perhaps some cities do, like Invrisil, but there are no laws and it’s very much dependent on the [Mayor] or whatever leadership is in place. Oh dear. I fear we do look rather bad compared to the Drake chain of command, don’t we?”
What he’d never expected was to be part of the solution. When the levy request had come from Lady Magnolia Reinhart to Vaunt, the city [Mayor] had panicked. When another request came hours later from Lord Tyrion Veltras, Gershal had known there would be trouble. When two important nobles wanted the same thing, appeasing one and not the other could have terrible consequences, and yet, both requests had demanded a large force be sent, making appeasing both an impossibility.
Magnolia Reinhart had no time to speculate. She stood on Invrisil’s ramparts four days after her retreat from the battlefield and stared at the approaching Goblin army through an enchanted spyglass. Next to her, the Watch Commander of Invrisil, the [Mayor], and several low-level [Lords] and [Ladies] shifted uneasily, but said nothing.
Behind Magnolia, the tall [Maid] nodded. She had her enchanted dagger in one hand and the [Mayor] of Invrisil kept glancing at it nervously. Magnolia sighed and refocused on the Goblin Lord’s army.
“I don’t know about a star, Miss Erin. I feel like I’m a [King] in his court sometimes, but it’s all flash and show, it really is. As for when it started happening, well, it began about a month ago. We’d been putting on plays each night when we started getting requests to go to other cities and put on a performance for the [Mayor] and well, people started coming up to us on the streets after that and saying how moving they thought our acting was.”
