Prologue

The Relephon Campaign

For too long had the region known as the Relephon Moons been under the control of a corrupt house that held power far longer than it should have. Not many were willing to take action against them until the Queen Mother herself had taken a vested interest in the goings on and decided it was time to cleanse the wretched vermin from existence. She looked among her most loyal allies and decided to call upon House Darkholme to take action, supplying them with a superior force and whatever resources they required. It was a young Lady Tasha Darkholme who was bestowed commanding the campaign, a young woman whom the Queen Mother had taken an interest in early on and had made her a part of the Royal Court.

The campaign had begun with Celestia where a series of devastating battles had taken place. Much of the ruling family there was killed and the ones who were not were brutally executed with their decapitated heads sent to the Queen Mother, compliments of Tasha. The Celestine Palace was virtually leveled to the ground and anyone who stood against the Queen Mother were deemed traitors to the crown and so joined their leaders in death. Private estates were looted and burned and people who witnessed this still speak of the smoke clouds blocking out the sun and the rivers flowing red with noble blood.

The war raged beyond that of just Celestia, Tasha’s forces swept through every one of the Relephon Moons. One by one they fell; offering little to no resistance. Forces sent by Grand Duchess Lorena Devereux joined those of Lady Tasha Darkholme’s as Venucia and Astralis were liberated and the last of the impudent wretches who stood against the Queen Mother were eradicated. Victory had been secured and the Relephon Moons were once again under the control of Hapes.

In the weeks following the Relephon Campaign, The Queen Mother bestowed a great honor upon Tasha when she declared her the new Crown Princess of the region. The move elevated House Darkholme in status throughout the Hapes Cluster and also placed loyal leadership to govern over what was once a renegade region.

It has been a little more than a year now since Crown Princess Tasha Darkholme was crowned and the Relephon Moons have been restored. Celestia still remains the capital and the Celestine Palace has been rebuilt into a new form. The old lies beneath the foundations of the new and has now been forgotten in the dirt of the past.

Present Day…

The Celestine Palace looked different these days. The overall structure and architecture had been completely changed and were now adorned in the prominent black and whit colors of House Darkholme. One who visited before the Relephon Campaign would not even recognize the palace or the ground that it occupies. Anything that could have symbolized the previous regime had been long erased and the mere mention of their names was considered insulting.

Tasha was standing as patiently as she could as her group of handmaidens dressed her in a black gown and prepared her for the oncoming day. Tasha’s sister, Syrena, was arriving from Hapes to be given a place among the ruling nobles of the Relephon Moons. The two were extremely close and Tasha needed someone both dependable and loyal at her side.

As Tasha now sat getting her hair styled and her crown put neatly in place, one of her servants came in and knelt before her. “The shuttle has just arrived, Your Majesty.”

Tasha lifted her hand, indicating her handmaidens to stop pampering her. “See to it my sister is given whatever she needs and escorted tot eh palace common room where I will be waiting. Should she be displeased with anyone, I shall show no mercy.”

The young servant kept his head low and backed away slowly. “Of course, Your Majesty.”

Tasha rose to her feet and again pushed away her handmaidens from attempting to tend to her further. “Enough! You are all dismissed!”


(OOC: Lupercus had given me the okay a while ago to mess around with Hapes.)

Making her way to the palace common room was easier said than done for Syrena Darkholme. Try and try obediently the loyal handmaidens did, but Tasha's sister just wouldn't budge from her place upon the foot of the lower staircase.

Her fingertips were methodically strumming against the side of the railing, indicating that she was perturbed about something or another.

"Your Grace? What is it? Have we done something to displease you?" One of the women bravely asked, jolting a little as Syrena fluidly shifted her head toward her direction, looking slightly disgusted.

"Can you not see it? Perhaps you are blind, hmm??"

Darkholme's hands fell to her hips, curling to fists as she looked across the way at the glorious picture of her magnificent sister, eyes narrowed.

"That picture of my sister there! It is hung crookedly! I will not have such! Fix it and fix it now! I will wait!"

So it was that the attendees rushed off to fix the portrait, centering it until Syrena's compulsive obsessive nature became satisfied with it. Time was never so much of a commodity in concerns to Tasha's sister.

"Oh yes!" She sighed serenely, relaxed and much more composed as she smiled primly while finely making her way to the palace's common room.

"Thank you, it looks so lovely now!" She beamed, quite delighted as she dismissed the girls away briefly so that she could cater her time to her sister, alone.

Butter smooth rich dark eyes sparkled so effectively as they took in Tasha. Her sister had a way of always making her feel better.

"Did you know that your lovely picture that rests just above the fireplace was crooked??? I insisted that they fix it! It looks wonderful again!"

Tasha kissed her sister's cheek. "Only you would have noticed such a thing, dearest sister. Now please; sit down. I have something quite interesting to share with you."

Tasha sat down and waited for Syrena to sit down with her. "It's taken months to rebuild the Relephon Moons after my ridiculous predecessors ran it straight into ruin. I have now finally gotten an opportunity to place us back on the galactic map once again." Tasha smiled. "Only this time it will be very, very different."

Tasha reached down and activated a small hologram. IT flashed between various walkers and military equipment which was being offered to them at a very reasonable rate. "These are only a mere sample of the catalog which was sent to me two days ago. Needless to say, it did not take me very long to respond with my interest in placing several orders."

Tasha leaned over toward Syrena. "I intend to get our military modernized. We've had the same basic equipment for years and we are in dire need of an upgrade. This is that first step."

A handmaiden entered the room and poured two glasses of wine. Tasha gracefully picked one up and brought it to her lips and casually took a sip. "I need you at my side, Syrena, as we change the face of the Relephon Moons and spread our influence throughout the Hapes Cluster." Tasha set her glass down and crossed her legs as she sat back to relax. "I have a guest who will be arriving to finalize our agreement. Once we do, my plan will be immediately set into motion."

Soft pleasant eyes let their gaze be a little distracted as they wandered about the common room. To Syrena, this was her best form of listening, the only true way she could be cool, calm and collected. Making sure that everything was in top spick-and-span order, Syrena returned her sister's gaze with a flourishing smile.

"It would be an honor, my sweet sister. Anything for you. By the way, this room is very dusty, you should see that someone take to cleaning it."

Well, almost in tip top shape.

Syrena went to touch her glass, lifted it and then eyed it before looking to bring it to her lips. Quickly in one swift motion, she set it back down where she had found it. It just wasn't clean enough.