Silence prevailed around the oaken round table. The only light in the great hall was cast from torches, one behind each present individual, and a lively fire centered behind the head of the table. Fading shields and worn weapons of heroes, long lost to the ages of time, hung on the walls reflected the scarce light around the stone room.

This wasn’t just an ordinary gathering, but rather a gathering of some of the strongest individuals. It was a gathering of the Round Table, the highest Table in the land, put into practice under King Langdon, the Last. Without an heir and seeing how much of his kingdom was suffering under his family’s line, Langdon realized that monarchy wasn’t enough to get his Nation, Renadon, so he turned to his knights and advisors and created three government bodies, what he called the Trident: the Table, to enforce justice and protect the people with sub tables throughout the country; the Pen, to write laws and govern diplomacy; and lastly the Book was made to keep the law makers and enforcers in line, but also to keep the system from self destructing on its own power.

Only Langdon was to hold top positions of Head, Scribe (more popularly called King) and Index but only till he was replaced by someone more capable. His last act as head of all three was to make a successor system where if one was deemed better than the head the head could voluntarily step down and appoint that one person, but only if the group or sub group agreed unanimously. If it was to be so then the one who stepped down would return to the group to replace or go down another sub grouping. Making it based on ability, loyalty and most importantly honor.

Thus the positions could not just be given to an individual, one’s spot had to be earned and, perhaps even more difficult, kept. These spots are not intended to purely give an individual power, rather it was meant to give responsibility to uphold, through thick and thin, the position they represent and their country and people in hope that when one’s time in the group was over their insignia just might be worthy to join the heroes before them on the wall.

In this way honor had to be upheld and protected and the sworn had to hold true till to the end both in action and in the eyes of others. The group had to keep itself pure without fault, sometimes forcing them to prune their numbers. But the chairs would always be filled, one for each representative the group stood over so that they could protect the order they swore to preserve, and the people they represented.

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The Table part of the Trident was a little different than the other two spears, which pulled its members from all areas of society, as it was comprised of purely fighting forces and based on one’s own individual level of ability and leadership. The lowest level of the Table was represented by adventurers who do the physical labor of the guild hall they report to. Adventurers had the ability to move around from hall to hall, but they could not move up the ladder until they settled down in one hall, usually at one’s home town. The guild halls were led by a guild head who reported to their town’s table which reported to the area table which kept going up the ladder until it got to the head Table which had a Chair, numbered from 2 to 57 based on the number of provinces in the Nation.

Behind the first Chair the fire crackled and poped. Then in a deep voice the man spoke,

“If what the spies say is true and our enemies are indeed trying to find a way through the infested wilderness to get to us we need to act. Who knows what monsters they may steer up in those waste lands, or how many people they may send through to deliver sneak attacks. Therefore gather individuals to be sent out so that we may know if they are up to anything that might indeed lay waste to our nation. Take any willing adventurers ranked 4 and above and send a mandatory draft from each province if the numbers are not filled. These individuals are to go to the city Halren in the western province of Growt, to be under the watch of Sir Malt the 5th chair for testing and training.

“Until we have more info be sure to assign an additional watch to the borders as we don’t know who or what may come out of that waste land, at least until we can be sure of the situation. Be sure to make a detailed report every other week, and label any threat that may come up. Anything demon and above needs to be set as a priority and reported as soon as it is discovered. That will be all.”

The Head paused for a second as he stood. Behind him the fire suddenly flared to new life throwing its light haphazardly around the room, “This is in accordance with the command of the King and approved by the Index. The Head of the Hall has spoken. For the Trident.”

The knights stood as one, their torches dancing to a faster, louder song. “For the Trident” they echoed.

Then darkness covered the hall...