<stringname="EegxpPka">+{BONUS_AMOUNT} bonus to hammers</string>
<stringname="EegxpPka">+{BONUS_AMOUNT} bonus to construction</string>
<stringname="eEmbb1MR">Production(s)</string>
<stringname="EHkzaZBi">Tournament of {SETTLEMENT_NAME}</string>
<stringname="eIws123Z">Leg Armor</string>
...
...
@@ -696,7 +697,7 @@
<stringname="hSsS5xAa">{TROOP_NAMES_BEGIN}{?IS_PLURAL} and {?}{\\?}{TROOP_NAMES_END} {?IS_PLURAL}are{?}is{\\?} waiting for other siege machines to arrive.</string>
<stringname="HuCClZqT">Wage</string>
<stringname="hVmamTJX">Gain party morale from food variety (Quartermaster). Improve settlement prosperity and build projects (Governor). Spend time in your settlements (Clan Leader).</string>
<stringname="HWSKCne0">Boosting a project x2 speed for 1 day costs 500<img src="Icons\Coin@2x"></string>
<stringname="HWSKCne0">Boosting a project adds +50 construction and costs 500<img src="Icons\Coin@2x">/day.</string>
<stringname="EegxpPka">+{BONUS_AMOUNT} bonus to hammers</string>
<stringname="EegxpPka">+{BONUS_AMOUNT} bonus to construction</string>
<stringname="eEmbb1MR">Production(s)</string>
<stringname="EHkzaZBi">Tournament of {SETTLEMENT_NAME}</string>
<stringname="eIws123Z">Leg Armor</string>
...
...
@@ -696,7 +697,7 @@
<stringname="hSsS5xAa">{TROOP_NAMES_BEGIN}{?IS_PLURAL} and {?}{\\?}{TROOP_NAMES_END} {?IS_PLURAL}are{?}is{\\?} waiting for other siege machines to arrive.</string>
<stringname="HuCClZqT">Wage</string>
<stringname="hVmamTJX">Gain party morale from food variety (Quartermaster). Improve settlement prosperity and build projects (Governor). Spend time in your settlements (Clan Leader).</string>
<stringname="HWSKCne0">Boosting a project x2 speed for 1 day costs 500<img src="Icons\Coin@2x"></string>
<stringname="HWSKCne0">Boosting a project adds +50 construction and costs 500<img src="Icons\Coin@2x">/day.</string>
<stringname="J7DnK8Kv">Bugün senin şanslı günün değil dostum. Gümüşünü bize vermeye ne dersin? Kimsenin boğazını kesmek zorunda kalmak istemiyorum.</string>
<stringname="j9Weia10">Kolay</string>
<stringname="jbQ3LYBl">imparator</string>
<stringname="JbTCDDb0">civata</string>
<stringname="JbTCDDb0">Kundaklı Yay Oku</string>
<stringname="jCbYaCcg">Tanıştığıma memnun oldum {PLAYER.LINK}. Ben {NPC.LINK}. Yardımların için teşekkürler umarım tekrar görüşürüz.</string>
<stringname="0Wg00sfN">Thank you, {?PLAYER.GENDER}madam{?}sir{\\?}. We will be moving immediately.</string>
<stringname="0WgYomR5">Thank you. I cannot guarantee I'd do the same for you, but I thank you.</string>
<stringname="0WTPOUKM">What? You treacherous… Well, {?PLAYER.GENDER}lady{?}sir{\\?} you have made yourself an enemy.</string>
<stringname="0wTZx8EC">You don't seem trustworthy. I have no interest in your offer.</string>
<stringname="0xnRstRX">I do so swear, {LORD.LINK}.</string>
<stringname="0YIdXQFU">May the Heavens protect and guide you.</string>
<stringname="0YJGvJ7o">You should leave now.</string>
...
...
@@ -141,6 +142,7 @@
<stringname="6oevXUSa">Let it be known that from this day forward, you are my sworn {?PLAYER.GENDER}follower{?}man{\\?} and vassal. I give you my protection and grant you the right to bear arms in my name, and I pledge that I shall not deprive you of your life, liberty or properties except by the lawful judgment of your peers or by the law and custom of the land.</string>
<stringname="6OmbzoBs">{ISSUE_GIVER.LINK} a merchant from {ISSUE_GIVER_SETTLEMENT} has told you that {?ISSUE_GIVER.GENDER}her{?}his{\\?} daughter has gone missing. {?ISSUE_GIVER.GENDER}She{?}He{\\?} offers a bounty of {BASE_REWARD_GOLD}{GOLD_ICON} to anyone who finds her and brings her back. You choose {COMPANION.LINK} and {REQUIRED_TROOP_AMOUNT} men to search for her and bring her back. You expect them to return in {ALTERNATIVE_SOLUTION_DAYS} days with the news of success.</string>
<stringname="6P1ruzsC">Maybe...</string>
<stringname="6po3wjFa">Okay. I hope you will not regret this.</string>
<stringname="6Q4cPOSG">Yes, we will.</string>
<stringname="6SppoTum">Yes? What do you want?[rb:positive]</string>
<stringname="aHGbTpLp">Tell me how tournaments work.</string>
<stringname="aHjUgEur">I own {BUSINESS_LIST} here.</string>
<stringname="aI0vbad8">Stealing is not for us. Don't do anything about that!</string>
<stringname="aIbR4Nr3">Sure, but first you will need to pay me and my men {GOLD_AMOUNT} denars for our efforts.</string>
<stringname="aJqSItFZ">You don't have any companions with {ROGUERY_SKILL} skill higher than {REQUIRED_SKILL_LEVEL} to assign for this quest!</string>
<stringname="ajSm2FEU">I know spies are hard to catch but I tasked this to you for a reason. Do not let me down {PLAYER.NAME}.</string>
<stringname="ak2EMWWR">You failed to bring the daughter back to her {?QUEST_GIVER.GENDER}mother{?}father{\\?} as promised to {QUEST_GIVER.LINK}. {QUEST_GIVER.LINK} is furious</string>
...
...
@@ -389,6 +392,7 @@
<stringname="ddEu5IFQ">I hope so.</string>
<stringname="ddhr2Xa3">I don't care. Yield or fight!</string>
<stringname="DeoalRXY">One of {NOTABLE.FIRSTNAME}'s hunting hounds took down my cousin's sheep, but {NOTABLE.FIRSTNAME} paid twice the beast's value in compensation -- very fair, I say, very fair indeed.</string>
<stringname="dfEi6GSE">We will fight for you, if you can pay us {GOLD_AMOUNT} denars in exchange for every influence we gain for you.</string>
<stringname="Dga7sQOu">I no longer need you as Surgeon.</string>
<stringname="DGKgQycl">Greetings. How can I help you?</string>
<stringname="dgNCuuUL">Hello, {PLAYER.NAME}. Good to see you again.</string>
...
...
@@ -521,6 +525,7 @@
<stringname="g8qb3Ame">Thank you.</string>
<stringname="GAq7KAf0">You bet! Say, you look like a fighter. You should join. Back in the old days it was all condemned criminals and fights to the death, but nowadays they use blunted weapons.</string>
<stringname="GAsVO8cZ">Good day, friend. I'll bet you came here for the games, or as they say nowadays, the tournament!</string>
<stringname="hJ1SFkmq">You managed to find the spy but lost the duel. {QUEST_GIVER.LINK} is disappointed.</string>
<stringname="hmmoXy0E">Whose workshop is this?</string>
<stringname="hnSFjIkM">As you wish. Your enemies are my enemies.</string>
<stringname="HOMeZ9bB">Let me think about it.</string>
<stringname="HpWYfcgw">..and to uphold your rights under the laws of the Sturgians, and the rights of your kin, and to avenge their blood as thought it were my own.</string>
<stringname="hsYgcbaI">You've cleared some members of a gang off of a territory that they claim. Do you want to stay here to make sure the others don't try to take it back?</string>
<stringname="Ht3S4nvm">Let's do some diagnostics about your faction.</string>
...
...
@@ -680,7 +686,6 @@
<stringname="KQ3aYvp3">Some day you’ll see I did you a favor. Pack up, we need to go.</string>
<stringname="kq9nFrjI">Did you bring my girl?</string>
<stringname="kqDvS5Vz">Now, it grieves us to do this, but we have mouths to feed and we're going to have ask you to pay for passage through our lands. If you refuse, we'll have no choice but to take your money by force.</string>
<stringname="KQXOmLh6">This is a generic backstory</string>
<stringname="KtrZs3yA">Certainly! The arena is open to anyone who doesn't mind hard knocks. Looks like a few of our lads are warming up now. You can go and hop in if you want to. Or come back later when there's a tournament.[ib:warrior][rb:very_positive]</string>
...
...
@@ -758,6 +763,7 @@
<stringname="MlTofjrU">And how would you serve us?</string>
<stringname="MLyBN51z">Round is over, your team is disqualified from the tournament.</string>
<stringname="MN2v1AZQ">I hate you! You killed him! I can’t believe it!. I will hate you with all my heart till my dying days. </string>
<stringname="MnluqvyE">I do not care to talk about my past.</string>
<stringname="mo4rbYvm">A couple of powerful wolves against a flock of helpless sheep. {GAME_NAME} is a game of uneven odds and seemingly all-powerful adversaries. But through strategy and sacrifice, even the sheep can dominate the wolves.</string>
<stringname="MqIg6Mh2">I swear homage to you as lawful {FACTION_TITLE}.</string>
...
...
@@ -852,6 +858,7 @@
<stringname="P7aRBg2h">Thank the heavens we have {?NOTABLE.GENDER}women{?}men{\\?} like {NOTABLE.LINK} to help the poor in these hard times.</string>
<stringname="P98iCLjl">Get out of my face you vile beggar.[rb:negative]</string>
<stringname="P99OLPWU">Excuse me, {?PLAYER.GENDER}madam{?}sir{\\?}, but I must shortly go about my business. Is there anything you need?</string>
<stringname="pBb6sevv">It is enough to say that I am looking for a new employer, and I will serve loyally so long as I am treated well and paid well.</string>
<stringname="PbDK3PIi">Can I change the amount we're betting?</string>
<stringname="PDhmSieV">{QUEST_GIVER.NAME}'s Kidnapped Daughter at {SETTLEMENT}</string>
<stringname="PdKIXiFa">Forgive me, {LORD.LINK}, I must give the matter more thought first...</string>
...
...
@@ -1011,7 +1018,6 @@
<stringname="tsjwrZCZ">I am sure that, as {?PLAYER.GENDER}lady{?}lord{\\?} of this district, you will not let these unlawful threats go unpunished. As the lord of the region, you can talk to {TARGET_NOTABLE.NAME} and force him to accept the blood money.</string>
<stringname="tTKpOFRK">You won the duel but your opponent was innocent. {QUEST_GIVER.LINK} is disappointed.</string>
<stringname="TTkVcObg">What choice do I have you heartless bastard![rb:very_negative]</string>
<stringname="TtLzpduL">We can be your mercenary for {GOLD_AMOUNT} denars of payment per influence.</string>
<stringname="tuaQ5uU3">I guess the only way to free you from this pretty boy’s spell is to kill him.</string>
<stringname="tuz8ZNT6">I wish to form a caravan in this town.</string>
<stringname="tVb0nWxm">War is all about sacrifice. In {GAME_NAME} you must make sure that your opponent sacrifices more than you do. Every move can expose you or your opponent and must be carefully considered.</string>
...
...
@@ -1067,6 +1073,8 @@
<stringname="VH27tpkT">It's quite the opportunity to make your name. You risk no more than your teeth, and didn't the Heavens give us thirty of those, just to have a few spare for grand opportunities like this?</string>
<stringname="vHKkVkAF">You have fought well. You are free to go.</string>
<stringname="VHuIdRYU">An enemy has seen you!</string>
<stringname="VIztLFNQ">You need to discuss this with our leader {LEADER.LINK}.</string>
<stringname="VJbQNVDu">You don't deserve my coin. This contract is over.</string>
<stringname="vjk2q3OT">{?PLAYER.GENDER}Madam{?}Sir{\\?}, {TARGET_NOTABLE.NAME}'s nephew murdered one of my kinsman, and it is our right to take vengeance on the murderer. Custom gives us the right of vengeance. Everyone must know that we are willing to avenge our sons, or others will think little of killing them. Does it do us good to be a clan of old men and women, drowning in silver, if all our sons are slain? Please sir, allow us to take vengeance. We promise we won't let this turn into a senseless blood feud.</string>
<stringname="vjOkDM6C">If you defend a murderer than you die like a murderer. Boys, kill them all!</string>
<stringname="VLgqVpT1">Hey you. {ALLEY_BOSS.NAME} knows you, right? That's good, but I'm still going to need to ask you your business around here.</string>
...
...
@@ -1127,6 +1135,7 @@
<stringname="x9VgLEzi">Yes… I’ve suffered a great misfortune. My daughter, a headstrong girl, has been bewitched by this never-do-well. I told her to stop seeing him but she wouldn’t listen!. Now she’s missing - I’m sure she’s been abducted by him!. I’m offering a bounty of {BASE_REWARD_GOLD}{GOLD_ICON} to anyone who brings her back. Please {?PLAYER.GENDER}ma'am{?}sir{\\?}! Don’t let a father’s heart be broken.</string>
<stringname="xatWDriV">Never mind then.</string>
<stringname="xb1Ps6ZC">Now get lost...</string>
<stringname="xbFa2L9A">We will not forget this.</string>
<stringname="XbnhxZbo">{PLAYER.NAME}.. Is that you? Am I free?</string>
<stringname="xCjCHRcS">As you wish. I hereby declare your oaths to be null and void. You will no longer hold land or titles in my name, and you are released from your duties to my house. You are free, {PLAYER.NAME}.</string>
<stringname="xCy5AXrz">I'll have your head on a pike for this, you bastard! Someday![if:idle_angry][rb:very_negative][ib:agressive]</string>
...
...
@@ -1146,6 +1155,7 @@
<stringname="Xo5lc6sz">If you've got more mouths in your house than your land will feed, {NOTABLE.FIRSTNAME} will let you work a bit of {?NOTABLE.GENDER}her{?}his{\\?} property - but he'll take a third of your harvest, even if you're kin.</string>
<stringname="XoftWx6z">I don't think I owe you such a favor {PLAYER.NAME}. I see no reason to accept this for you.[rb:negative]</string>
<stringname="xoJfnk6m">Walk the path of righteousness.</string>
<stringname="xOrwhUVJ">I want to end our contract.</string>
<stringname="xP8cKZFE">They say the merchant {NOTABLE.LINK} is hiring at {?NOTABLE.GENDER}her{?}his{\\?} {SHOP_TYPE}. {?NOTABLE.GENDER}She{?}He{\\?}'s a harsh master but a fair one, they say.</string>
<stringname="xpafjLhC">My dear {PLAYER.NAME}, your generous gift has led me to reconsider what you ask, and I have come to appreciate the wisdom of your proposal.</string>
<stringname="Xpekpwby">Barter line - player should not see this</string>
...
...
@@ -1215,6 +1225,7 @@
<stringname="ZCbQvqqv">An unscarred face is usual for farmers and merchants but less so for warriors. This might be useful.</string>
<stringname="zcf9M1Qh">Very well... You may go.</string>
<stringname="ZEwHT9LE">I want to bet on myself!</string>
<stringname="zFAkHQRH">I am ready to pay my debt.</string>
<stringname="zG5jo0bJ">Yes, have you made any progress on it?</string>
<stringname="ZhCRL9mY">All those bastards walking around drunk and bothering folks.. But they work for {NOTABLE.LINK} and you can't say a thing if you value your head.</string>
<stringname="zJVb2aCe">Farewell, {PLAYER.NAME}. I regret that we part on these terms.</string>
<stringname="3FvGk8k6">Your settlement {SETTLEMENT} is besieged by {PARTY} of {FACTION}!</string>
<stringname="3gbgjJfZ">Candidly, what do you think of your liege, {FIRST_NAME}?</string>
<stringname="3gXc2ZzJ">You need a wilder past</string>
<stringname="3IBVEOwh">I still think we may not be ready yet.</string>
...
...
@@ -200,6 +201,7 @@
<stringname="3SBDbPjD">Good to hear that! Safe journeys.</string>
<stringname="3skTM1DC">Most people would put a knife in your back for a few coppers. Have a few friends and keep them close, I guess.</string>
<stringname="3sRdGQou">Leave</string>
<stringname="3TmLIou4">Alive</string>
<stringname="3tzaxDI6">Every villager party entering your town generates 10 gold income</string>
<stringname="3UDUqYv1">Scout Perks</string>
<stringname="3UprB5ID">{NAME} the Brilliant</string>
...
...
@@ -263,7 +265,7 @@
<stringname="5Adr6toM">{MENU_TEXT}</string>
<stringname="5ao0RdRT">Well, I do not deny that there is something about you to which I am drawn.</string>
<stringname="5AvvGkk4">I'm sure what you did was an honest mistake, but there are laws. Hand over the contraband to me, and this will be the end of it.</string>
<stringname="5axKTUpX">Forests give 10% less speed penalty to parties</string>
<stringname="5axKTUpX">Forests give 10% less speed penalty to parties.</string>
<stringname="5B6WPxeu">{CHAR_NAME}</string>
<stringname="5bSWSaPl">Footmen on horses</string>
<stringname="5cH6ssDI">mercenary company</string>
...
...
@@ -501,7 +503,7 @@
<stringname="A0UCmgaY">{NAME} Bluebeard</string>
<stringname="a0UTO8tW">{ISSUE_OWNER.LINK}, the headman of {ISSUE_SETTLEMENT}, asked you to deliver {GRAIN_AMOUNT} bushels of grain to {?QUEST_GIVER.GENDER}her{?}him{\\?} to use as seeds. Otherwise the peasants cannot sow their fields and starve in the coming season. You have agreed to send your companion {COMPANION.NAME} along with {MEN_COUNT} men to find some grain and return to the village. Your men should return in {RETURN_DAYS} days.</string>
<stringname="A1LHEGX4">Ice Breaker</string>
<stringname="a1n2zCaD">Exactly do you wish from me.</string>
<stringname="a1n2zCaD">What exactly do you wish from me?</string>
<stringname="a2AO5T1Q">{CLAN_NAME} has ended its mercenary contract with {KINGDOM_NAME}.</string>
<stringname="a2dJDUoL">My sword is my dowry. The gold and land will follow.</string>
<stringname="a37zTVVe">Believe me, I'll be generous to those who came to me early. Perhaps not as generous to those who came late.</string>
...
...
@@ -604,6 +606,7 @@
<stringname="arl0erDp">Of course, of course... Never mind what they say about the rats, by the way -- I've never actually seen one myself, on account of the pitch-black darkness. Anyway, I'm sure that {s5} will understand why it's important for you to control expenditures. Now... Was there anything else?</string>
<stringname="ARNYrXln">{TROOP.NAME} has claimed {SIDE1_PARTY} currently held by the {SIDE2_FACTION}</string>
<stringname="arpa1LzL">Your troops have +1 throwing weapon ammunition.</string>
<stringname="aSniKUJv">High Loyalty</string>
<stringname="ASOW1MuQ">Your settlement {SETTLEMENT} is under attack by {PARTY} of {FACTION}!</string>
<stringname="AT6v10NK">Attribute</string>
<stringname="aTeuX4L0">Regular</string>
...
...
@@ -654,7 +657,7 @@
<stringname="b5Ucatkb">Tell me about your journeys. What news of the markets?</string>
<stringname="B5UMlqHc">I'll be honest... We don't want to die. Would you take us on as hired fighters? That way everyone gets what they want.</string>
<stringname="b6MgRYlM">This decision was rejected by the support of the council.</string>
<stringname="b6naGx6H">Don’t worry. I’ll rid you of those poachers.</string>
<stringname="b6naGx6H">I'll rid you of those poachers myself.</string>
<stringname="b6Spbd9O">{VICTIM.LINK} has been executed by {KILLER.LINK}.</string>
<stringname="b7APCGY2">Talk to other members</string>
<stringname="b7c5Q3BY">Character can refine two units of fine steel into one unit of Thamaskene steel, and one unit of crude iron as by-product.</string>
...
...
@@ -994,6 +997,7 @@
<stringname="DWDGHnzs">{FIRST_NAME} of the Gate</string>
<stringname="dwtIc9AG">Experienced Smith</string>
<stringname="dx0hmeH6">Tracking</string>
<stringname="DXczLzml">Status</string>
<stringname="DxGecvb6">What happened to the rest? Well, in any case it is better than nothing, I suppose.</string>
<stringname="dXk7LOkb">Slaughter</string>
<stringname="DxVKumDj">Two extra thrown weapons per pack</string>
...
...
@@ -1016,7 +1020,6 @@
<stringname="EaifHOao">Yes, {?PLAYER.GENDER}my lady{?}sir{\\?}, I will.</string>
<stringname="eALf5d30">Thanks!</string>
<stringname="EaPQ2mm7">One thing - if possible, try not to get them all killed, will you? Green troops aren't much use to me, but corpses are even less.</string>
<stringname="Eaq23Rez">Feat Bonus</string>
<stringname="eaQxeRh6">A boy runs out of the village and asks you to talk to the leader of the poachers. The villagers want to avoid a fight outside their homes.</string>
<stringname="eaSlwKRY">Additional size from extra prisoner cheat</string>
<stringname="eAzwpqE1">Force peasants to give you supplies</string>
...
...
@@ -1231,7 +1234,6 @@
<stringname="gBcb92pJ">{FIRST_NAME} the Slicer</string>
<stringname="gbHKGRr5">You have received a message and a purse from {QUEST_GIVER.LINK}. The missive reads: ”The herd arrived. Some were lost, but we made enough money to get by. Thank you, and please accept these {REWARD}{GOLD_ICON} with our gratitude.”.</string>
<stringname="gBSEXHGi">{NAME} the Traitor</string>
<stringname="gCaT2BTu">{PRISONER.NAME} has been released from captivity following a peace treaty</string>
<stringname="GCH6RgIQ">How though are they?</string>
...
...
@@ -1699,7 +1701,7 @@
<stringname="L9n6yu1X">The influence cost of creating an army is reduced by 30% for the ruler\nArmies led by the ruler earn cohesion at 30% less cost\nArmies led by non-ruler nobles cost 10% more influence to create</string>
<stringname="l9sFJawW">Go to the tavern district</string>
<stringname="l9wYpIuV">Any news? Have you managed to clear out the hideout yet?</string>
<stringname="lA14Ubal">I’ll rid you of those poachers myself.</string>
<stringname="lA14Ubal">I can send a companion to hunt these poachers.</string>
<stringname="lay7hKUK">I insist that my {?PLAYER.GENDER}wife{?}husband{\\?} conduct {?PLAYER.GENDER}herself{?}himself{\\?} according to the highest standards.</string>
...
...
@@ -1977,7 +1979,6 @@
<stringname="oAaKaXEy">I really like this meal. I'd like it served to all my men.</string>
<stringname="oAb4NqO5">Male</string>
<stringname="obHhAi60">You don't have any companions with riding skill higher than {REQUIRED_SKILL_LEVEL} to this mission!</string>
<stringname="obiKXPPW">Governor Bonus</string>
<stringname="Obk7j3ai">Here it is. Now let us pass</string>
<stringname="obVZqyjo">{NAME} the Trader</string>
<stringname="ObwbbEqE">Siege Medic</string>
...
...
@@ -2244,6 +2245,7 @@
<stringname="QUn2ugIX">Thank you. Here's your pay.</string>
<stringname="UUN43F43">{FIRST_NAME} the Goat</string>
<stringname="UuSstgt8">This village has no goods to take.</string>
<stringname="uvjOVy5P">Dead</string>
<stringname="UW1roOES">You should discuss this issue with {REDIRECT_HERO_RELATIONSHIP}, who speaks for our family.</string>
<stringname="uW7jNpaT">Concealed Blade</string>
<stringname="UwEbBanm">These are the laws of our town. The artisans don't complain when the laws require us to buy tools from them.</string>
...
...
@@ -2659,7 +2663,7 @@
<stringname="vaBYdaSH">You need to be wealthier</string>
<stringname="vaISh0sx">I will go off to make something of myself, then, and shall return to you.</string>
<stringname="VawDQKLl">Lime Kilns</string>
<stringname="vaZDJGMx">Construction From Market</string>
<stringname="vaZDJGMx">Construction from Market</string>
<stringname="Vb9IhkIZ">{FIRST_NAME} of the Dawn</string>
<stringname="vbbc6sIU">I regret to tell you that my progress under your tutelage is not satisfactory. I should return to my clan to resume my studies. Thank you for your trouble anyway.</string>
<stringname="vbiA31xT">Deserter extortion at {SETTLEMENT}</string>
...
...
@@ -2770,6 +2774,7 @@
<stringname="W6ebB306">people</string>
<stringname="W6XMWJ8R">Castle Charters</string>
<stringname="W73My5KO">Death</string>
<stringname="w8Yzf0F0">Destroyed</string>
<stringname="W99amzpt">{NAME} the Fool</string>
<stringname="w9olmhv0">It is time to declare war</string>
<stringname="WACam22Q">For The Thrill</string>
...
...
@@ -3026,6 +3031,7 @@
<stringname="YQ3vm6er">Enter the arena</string>
<stringname="yqPNKKGb">Farsighted</string>
<stringname="yQtzabbe">Close</string>
<stringname="YRbSBxqT">Not Destroyed</string>
<stringname="yRlINUML">Hah! I'll see you beg for mercy.</string>
<stringname="YRN4RBeI">Very well, madame, but I would have you know.... I intend to marry someone of my own rank.</string>
<stringname="yrPEqZEa">Any other way?</string>
...
...
@@ -3054,6 +3060,7 @@
<stringname="YWu5Xfgz">I don't feel you're taking my complaint seriously.</string>
<stringname="ywUGYbRT">Cunning {NAME}</string>
<stringname="yWXtcxqb">Construct housing so that more folks can settle, increasing population.</string>
<stringname="yX1RycON">Boost from Reserve</string>
<stringname="yXb8bphB">Nobles are expected to raise sizable retinues.</string>
<stringname="YXbKXUDu">{ISSUEGIVER.LINK}, a merchant from {SETTLEMENT}, has told you about {?ISSUEGIVER.GENDER}her{?}his{\\?} recent problems with bandits. {?ISSUEGIVER.GENDER}She{?}he{\\?} asked you to guard {?ISSUEGIVER.GENDER}her{?}his{\\?} caravan for a while and deal with any attackers. {newline}You have agreed to guard it yourself until it visits {NUMBER_OF_SETTLEMENTS} settlements.</string>
<stringname="YXCGUSYd">Mm. Well, you'd make a very unusual match. But, well, I won't rule it out.</string>
<stringname="zKhvUmeH">{?TARGET_HERO.GENDER}She{?}He{\\?} is {TARGET_HERO.NAME} from {TARGET_HERO.CLAN}. I want {?TARGET_HERO.GENDER}her{?}him{\\?} brought to me, so I can settle this score once and for all. I have a {BASE_REWARD}{GOLD_ICON} that I am told is worth a king's ransom. I will give it away who brings {?TARGET_HERO.GENDER}her{?}him{\\?} back alive to me within a year.</string>
<stringname="zliqo1Y8">{?PLAYER.GENDER}Madam{?}Sir{\\?}, I will pay double whatever {?QUEST_GIVER.GENDER}she{?}he{\\?} promised to release me. Believe me, you don't want a reputation as {?QUEST_GIVER.GENDER}her{?}his{\\?} kidnapper-for-hire.</string>
<stringname="0FHF0OXK">I'm a surgeon. I trained at the imperial academy in {IMPERIALCAPITAL}. I had many rich and influential patients in the town. I thought I was well shielded from the intrigues and dangers of the Empire. </string>
<stringname="0reAi03W">I was a cowherd. In most villages, this is a boy's job, because one must be alone in the hills. In our village there were few boys, and I was a good shot with a sling, good at keeping the wolves away.</string>
<stringname="0SnKUaex">No doubt a sad state of affairs. So what do you do?</string>
<stringname="0ttlPDSr">My family was in a feud. Over stolen cattle, as is often the case in the upcountry. Well, the family we fought turned out to be rather stronger than us, and most of us were killed. The rest were scattered. I lived for a while as a thief, stealing to eat, but that is a bitter path, and now I am looking for something better.</string>
<stringname="0ty7hiZI"> I've been in a lot of fights and I've killed a lot of people. Ask you around - you shouldn't just take my word for it. But never one who didn't deserve it, and never once outside a fair fight.</string>
<stringname="12lOrxfb">The boys of the neighboring village would pester me. One of them, the chief's son, would not leave me alone. They wanted from me what all boys want. One day he came up behind me and tried to take me by force. But I had a knife... </string>
<stringname="157MgVWG">They say I stole a horse. Indeed, I was riding a fine horse through the streets here, and Karakhuzait are supposed to be poor. I paid for it in silver, but man who sold it to me - a dog, an Arkit - seems to want both his horse and the silver. So it is my word against his.</string>
<stringname="1Gr3wo1m">I was a smith. As you can see I'm a big fellow, strong... I was good at my job. Had a nice shop on the high street through my town. Saved a bit of money and thought about finding a girl to wed.</string>
<stringname="1gXv1YlG">If the choice I had been mine, I would have never hurt anyone. I would live on my land, eat what I had grown, marry and have children. But the Heavens have decreed that I should eat by shedding other men's blood. In the city, rich men pay me well for that.</string>
<stringname="1paC3mV1">Yes. Too many men on both sides of the law prey on the weak.</string>
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@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
<stringname="26RU4ZRj">Wait... This famous stand you're describing. It was against your own side?</string>
<stringname="28RfiykG">Every day, I give thanks to the Heavens that I was not born a savage.</string>
<stringname="2BKMNXE7">I fought three battles under the banner of the Sultan, and two more under the banners of the Qild. No more.</string>
<stringname="2mOdY5gW">I was in the Vaegir guard in the time of Arenicos. We took our discipline seriously; we were proud of it. Then the riots happened. What I saw in {IMPERIALCAPITAL}.. Even now it makes me feel ashamed.</string>
<stringname="2cdYmeeq">My father was a robber and a murderer. We preyed on drunks and travellers outside the caravanserais, mostly, only knifing them when we needed to. But the guards caught up with my father, eventually. He had enough silver stored away to pay the bribes to save one of us. He was hanged, I fled.</string>
<stringname="2PZsQPty">I will tell you my story. I haven't... I haven't spoken of this before, to anyone. Perhaps it's the wine here. But know that if you speak of this to anyone else, I'll cut your tongue out.</string>
<stringname="2rX8VwCj">I'll tell you my story. Why not?</string>
<stringname="2VTD9b4L">As it happened, my neighbors needed to supply an armed man for the king's levy. None of them wished to go, so I offered to stand in for them. They bought me a sword, jerkin and horse, and thus I became a warrior.</string>
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@@ -40,26 +40,29 @@
<stringname="4rC9tzki">I don't begrudge a warrior a few drinks and a fight from time to time.</string>
<stringname="4u5YQtKn">Hard to blame you for that, I suppose.</string>
<stringname="4UMf7HDe">You may call it pride, but I do not wish to enlist as a foot soldier. So I work here in town, for merchants, for pay, a hired sword. All I can say is that I hope one day to purchase the land I need to serve our emperor, whoever sits in the throne, as my father did.</string>
<stringname="4v369XQ3">Sure - I'll tell you how I wound up in here. Nothing to lose, really, what with them outside erecting the gallows for me.</string>
<stringname="548o0GKu">I could return to my people, I suppose, but I have no wish to do so. So I am here, in the towns, where I can make good money with my sword and care nothing about those who envy me.</string>
<stringname="56VPnxQd">You're a nosy one, I see.</string>
<stringname="587q6IS6">Very nice. You sound destined for the scaffold, so you might as well enjoy a hot meal or two.</string>
<stringname="5d6Xifm1">Master of empty talk, rather.</string>
<stringname="5Fp7d2cV">Sounds like justice served.</string>
<stringname="5h5bHA4o">They were and they weren't, you might say. Dozens of bands, dozens of chiefs. Some wanted to be more than bandits, to try to treat the poor decently, and some were happy being bandits. We needed to eat, so most of the time the bandits won out. But there was one chief we had, he took things too far. Made peasants hand over not just their grain but their daughters. So I told him - Vatand was his name - what I thought of that.</string>
<stringname="5hBuA8kd">I was an spearman. I fought on foot. That's usually what you do if you're not from a big clan. Twice the risk, half the pay and none of the glory. Anyway, I'm done with that for now, looking for other work.</string>
<stringname="5mUCH99p">Suffice to say, I could not return to my father's house. I went on my way, happy to live the life of a warrior I had always dreamed of living. But soon I found out - the tales I loved as a girl, of shield-maidens who fought for honor, do not pertain to a woman with no family or land. One cannot fight for honor when one doesn't know where the next meal comes from. So I fight for pay.</string>
<stringname="5QpIypgB">Since you ask who I am, stranger, I will tell you.</string>
<stringname="5Z9SNzQw">The lords and the merchants, they sit in their lofty towers making grand decisions, but they don't see into the back alleys to know what plots are going on. They don't know where to find the debtor who won't pay his debt. They don't know where to find the wagging tongues starting rumors. So that's where I come in.</string>
<stringname="688YMH2y">I am Battanian by birth but I served in the legions. Many of us did. There is as much honor serving the Empire as any other master. But now the legions are no more.</string>
<stringname="6KUJ7cYt">Sure, I'll tell you my tale. Don't expect a happy one.</string>
<stringname="6NorKoWz">Well, before we begin, here's a flagon of ale to your health - both physical and spiritual.</string>
<stringname="6OF0vjQV">After Arenicos's so-called reforms, they try to maintain an army on the cheap, letting the rich run the show out of their own pocket. No wonder the whole thing's collapsed into a bunch of squabbling factions and we're mocked by the barbarians we used to rule.</string>
<stringname="6R8hkchs">That is all there is to say, really. I still have the sword, and it is for hire, to those who pay well. I'll do most whatever is needed. The world had no mercy on me, so I feel no need to show any.</string>
<stringname="7bX48G5w">I was raised in a well-known clan, but my father died and my stepfather cast me out. It is a common enough story among our people. You may find many of us wandering the roads, our swords our only inheritance.</string>
<stringname="7caHipXX">So I left. And a short while later the emperor sent a third detachment, bigger than the others, and that was the end of the Kingdom of Truth. My old comrades - I see them sometimes from time to time, some in a lord's retinue, others in a cage with R for 'robber' branded on their forehead.</string>
<stringname="7GpMPCMW">My clan was locked in a feud with another clan for years. One life of theirs, then one life of ours, year after year, decade after decade. But I chose to break the cycle. I left my family. I am not the first to do so. This happens among us, from time to time, though few speak of it.</string>
<stringname="7JMaPpkN">We built a great temple in the back country, out in the bush, called it the Kingdom of Truth. We whipped two imperial detachments sent to track us down. But Ladicos died, 'Called up to Heaven' he said on his deathbed, and then we lost our way a bit. We needed food and we needed money, so our chiefs started collecting 'taxes' from the villages below. Some started taking money from lords and merchants for protection of caravans. And those who grumbled - well, they started turning up dead in the dry streambeds.</string>
<stringname="7KUO2swN">He really did swing at me first - I think. I was drunk. I know you think I'm just saying that to save my neck, but it's true. And if a trial by combat affirms that I'm talking truth, than I can get off with a fine, and not swing for what I did.</string>
<stringname="7QFCINsI">Every time I've fought with a band of my 'countrymen,' I've told them: 'Hold your lines. Stay firm. Fight as the Empires does: as a solid hammer, not a gaggle of goats.' And every time I have seen them disintegrate into a screaming rush as soon as the arrows start flying, to dash themselves on the enemy's shields or be cut down by cavalry coming in on the sides.</string>
<stringname="7RyQGcbI">The trouble with prophecies... People remember the one that came true, never the ten that were false.</string>
<stringname="7TbLW9lr">I could tell you of all my deeds, and you'd never believe me. But you know, if you'd met me a year back, I could have taken you to my hall some time and shown you them. Shown you my deeds! You heard that! </string>
<stringname="7tCl75xJ">I was part of the old Emperor Arenicos's Vaegir Guard. But the people turned on us after his death, and attacked us. Maybe you've heard the story before. There's a whole lot of us, spat out into the world by the ungrateful Calradians.</string>
<stringname="7WspnHDJ">I rode with Monchug Khan for years. I should have had a place of honor in his hall. But I killed a man from a richer clan over an insult, and he had too many kinfolk for me to linger anymore.</string>
<stringname="836klxRM">You want to know about me? Well, that's a story, that's a story.</string>
<stringname="84coQmIJ">My family was not one of the greatest clans of the Battanians, but nor are we among the poorest. When I came of age, my family sent me to join the Wolfskins. You may have heard of this tradition - for three years we live in the woods and do not eat cooked meat, wear spun cloth, or sleep under a roof, and according to the law we are beasts, not bound by the laws of men.</string>
<stringname="8aEcRzM7">I will tell you. If you are a partisan of the Khan Urkhun and his brood, however, you may not like it.</string>
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@@ -68,23 +71,22 @@
<stringname="8duSHfDa">Ah, yes. Wise words. Do go on.</string>
<stringname="8lGql3mA">I've fought for Ulus Khan, and for Monchug Khan, and even for the old Urkhun. But I fight on foot - my family's from the town, not the steppe. Life's a little different for us.</string>
<stringname="8lQ9IM8N">The women in our family passed down the art of healing from generation to generation, and other... em... services, that can be accomplished with herbs. But for all our skill we remained poor, while richly robed, well-fed men with half our skill walked about the towns tending to the lords and ladies.</string>
<stringname="8TabS6RW">I was a daughter of a wealthy clan. But our rivals drove us from our grazing grounds. We had to sell our herds. We were mocked in towns when we went to trade in the marketplace. Luckily my father was one of those wise enough to teach his daughters to fight. With the Heavens' help I will become wealthy and famous, and restore our family name.</string>
<stringname="8U01rj5f">When a victim turns thief, that does not right the world.</string>
<stringname="8xrIamsU">My first foray into war, we were pursued by a force of imperial cavalry twice our number. One man was needed to stay behind and hold a ford, so that the rest could escape. The others had families, so I chose to be that one, as I could think of none who would mourn me. </string>
<stringname="8zQ9UPvX">Some boys help their fathers sew crops. Some boys learn to herd sheep. Me, I spent my childhood learning to harvest the back alleys outside winehouses. My father taught me. He was a good teacher, if a cruel man.</string>
<stringname="902xqUja">A cavalier of the empire doing errands for traders! The shame of it!</string>
<stringname="9AIyvTmF">Well... I was soon disabused of this idea. A doctor starting out in the world must either have a great deal of money, or family that ensures him a long list of clients. I had neither. Instead of working in the city, I took service aboard a ship.</string>
<stringname="9bezXRLp">It did not matter much. I always preferred the woods. I made a better living shooting squirrels and rabbits and selling fur. </string>
<stringname="9cFEa5EB">My father was one of the men that Urkhun Khan had trained by captured imperial engineers. Our people knew little of siegecraft in those days. Well, he was not allowed to work for anyone but the Khan, or he would be killed in a very unpleasant way. But he taught me, his son, what he knew, and in this generation things are a little more lenient. So I can work for whom I please. </string>
<stringname="9EQxlFGK">A wise man, my father. But proud, and that was his undoing. A thief cannot be proud. We do not survive long without protection from the guards, and a new captain wanted to double the 'tax' my father paid. He refused, so they hanged him.</string>
<stringname="9jYj8jGg">Resentment is poison to an army. Men must learn to follow what orders they are given.</string>
<stringname="9KJdwiWV">Aye, well, that shows how far honest work gets you.</string>
<stringname="9vt4wew9">I am a conoisseur of horseflesh, my friend. No one knows horses better than I. But I find, alas, that often the best horses are wasted on unworthy owners, so I try to rectify that.</string>
<stringname="9xJrtdOG">Truth or not, a bit more penitence would be reassuring.</string>
<stringname="9YDjFZIU">Mmm... I do appreciate virtue, but villainy makes for a much spicier tale.</string>
<stringname="a1FYCbdy">Soon after I came of age, we got wind that our neighbors would raid us for cattle. We did not know by which road they would come. I was sent with a few of our tenants to hold a ford that was far out of the way.</string>
<stringname="A6WrXPQ6">So like I said: I can ride, swing a sword, manage a caravan, and I have good idea how to turn a profit. You know anyone looking to hire someone like that?</string>
<stringname="A9r6SnWx">Yes, it must be trying.</string>
<stringname="aBqj9o7e">I suppose that's an inspiring tale, in its way.</string>
<stringname="acRHDzXI">Oh of course. Every thief is falsely accused. It's a wonder things still get stolen.</string>
<stringname="aFs4JtDV">Eventually they demanded my father drive me out of the village. Because I was the fourth of four girls, it was no great loss for him to comply. Probably saved him worry over where he was going to find the money to marry me off. My mother screamed and wept, but her opinions were of no consequence.</string>
<stringname="Agbh1AmR">I have a gift... From the Heavens, perhaps, or perhaps from somewhere else. I have never met anyone I could not kill in a fair fight. But I do not like wars. Armies are full of crude men, boasters, drunks, rapists. I have another speciality.</string>
<stringname="agmuAXJc">How would I put it? I guess I'd say I'm a lady who's gotten a reputation for doing a man's work better then the men. I guess I'm a bit of a rarity. Although that's a bit of a surprise to me.</string>
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@@ -92,10 +94,11 @@
<stringname="aIPLCDp7">Heavens protect us from evil! Away! Away!</string>
<stringname="Aj9ulUly">You're a cheerful one. Good day to you.</string>
<stringname="AlZlPv4b">Councils these days. Always making changes...</string>
<stringname="ammEPFoq">I'm a former imperial cataphract. Our skills, and our honor, needs no further introduction. But I was unable to afford my horse and armor, so I took work with merchants, as a hired sword.</string>
<stringname="AMMXrcC9">Indeed. Glory is as much a spoil of war as any, and should be shared.</string>
<stringname="aNSIajhR">I found a guardsman, alone and drunk. I have no idea whether he was one of the ones that set fire to our neighborhood. Maybe I should not have done to him what I did to him. But now I have his sword. It's been very useful.</string>
<stringname="aOSiXn2O">Well, I'm not averse to less dangerous work, if it pays well. No sense going to my grave too quickly, now that I've discovered the finer things in life. I do like the wine you get in the city, especially with a bit of bread and anchovy sauce.</string>
<stringname="APcr8rgq">I'll tell you. It's a bit of a long story - you may wish to get yourself a drink.</string>
<stringname="APcr8rgq">I'll tell you. You may wish to get yourself a drink.</string>
<stringname="Aqbu1o9v">Far back as I remember, I was living on the streets of {IMPERIALCAPITAL} with a bunch of other dirty, barefoot scrogs. A group of men in our alley, they called themselves the Centaurs, I guess they took a liking to me. Gave me special errands to run from them - started with picking pockets, ended with sticking knives into their enemies. Back then I'd do anything for a handful of figs and cheese and a pat on the head.</string>
<stringname="astXdbzl">The monastic calling is supposed to inspire us to live pure lives. It doesn't look good when people abandon it.</string>
<stringname="AT7pJ6Rm">It is not without some reluctance that I tell this story, for it hardly does honor to my name.</string>
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@@ -110,6 +113,7 @@
<stringname="aZOuFJ6H">Well, he did not believe in such things, so he laughed, tossed her a few coins, and sent her on her way. I grew up. When my first suitor was skewered by a spear in battle, I grieved, but thought little of it.</string>
<stringname="b0zmbTPQ">When all was done I'd have killed for an hour of another man's company, or a sip of wine, or a glimpse of a girl. So my sister and I, we came down to the valleys. She found a husband. I can get good work as a tracker. And that's all there is to it.</string>
<stringname="b1sCl4SI">So, anyway, I am forced to spend my time in taverns, taking whatever work can be found. I can oversee the building of most structures, or, if the need is there, I am also adept at knocking them down with catapults, rams, and mines.</string>
<stringname="b1Ucozvw">I was a farmer once. I killed a man in a fight and could not pay the blood money, so I had to flee. It's a common enough tale in the northlands. I accept that my destiny will be blood and hardship, rather than the simple life on the land I once craved.</string>
<stringname="b2UpIO43">I left the woods, but I spent enough time with the bandits to learn a bit of woodcraft. Now I help lords hunt them. If I must choose between two evils, I will work for the one that pays better. But I also have an outstanding debt with the landlord. Perhaps some day I will be able to settle it.</string>
<stringname="b3IzpFH2">Now, I'm looking around to see if there's anyone who might want to take me on. Especially if I might one day have a chance to rain rocks on the good people of {IMPERIALCAPITAL}, who killed my da.</string>
<stringname="B3UQTCRE">Refill my glass and I'll tell you.</string>
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@@ -118,19 +122,24 @@
<stringname="bagbVij6">So, what you're saying is that you're a horsethief.</string>
<stringname="bDidH1Pu">It takes a vile man to do that work, and an even worse one to boast about it.</string>
<stringname="bE3LXxhw">Yeah... I can tell you all that.</string>
<stringname="BFVlgN2S">I was a monk. But I, like many others, wasn't especially suited to monastery life, and was expelled. No complaints there. The one good thing about monasteries, though - you learn a fair deal about herbs and medicine. So that's how I intend to make my income.</string>
<stringname="bhvZuX1m">A rather sad tale of deceit and disgrace.</string>
<stringname="BIsvfC0x">You too are a victim of the hideous power of the state.</string>
<stringname="BJSnI0tW">I ran with the Wolfskins, see? You may know our way - so long as we live as beasts, we're beyond the laws of man. But a few months ago I left my brothers in the woods and became a man again, which was a foolish thing to do.</string>
<stringname="bk3Ir2uC">Well... Even now I feel I made a wise choice to buy the pepper -- wise, but unlucky. Such is fortune! Had I not seized this opportunity, other merchants would have mocked me, a woman who lacked the daring to succeed in a man's trade. Instead they mock a rash woman who lacked a man's judgment. And here I am, looking for work.</string>
<stringname="bLZVseMd">I'm sure he'll be happy if you're happy.</string>
<stringname="bMHFQgVE">Aye, real honor is as scarce as hen's teeth these days.</string>
<stringname="bNUxoLhP">I don't know where I came from. First thing I remember is wandering the roads with a bunch of other orphans, going from village to village begging and stealing. But now, you see, I've stolen a sword from a group of bandits we found sleeping off a drunken night, and I figure maybe I can be something different.</string>
<stringname="bRE8iZqE">I had no father, see. None that I knew. There are scores of us in every town, begging and stealing and working for the gangs. But I was always the type of girl who wanted something more, and I got ahold of this sword, you see, and now I intend to turn other people's blood into silver.</string>
<stringname="BuamWVTp">Yes.. My story... Jealousy, envy of my talents. That's always been my undoing.</string>
<stringname="BVQ075W6">A sad tale. Please continue.</string>
<stringname="bwthhDSN">Right or wrong, I cannot blame you for your anger.</string>
<stringname="BxJA6fS5">Urkhun Khan decreed a generation ago that all the Khuzaits must settle, to be conscripted and taxed. We refused. His men took our flocks, and we have since lived like beggars on the edge of the towns. I have resolved to go out and earn the money we need to buy new flocks, and then we shall go again into the great grass, beyond the reach of any tyrant or khan.</string>
<stringname="bxKXHPp1">I served in the free companies. When I was young and foolish I loved it - the danger, the comraderie. But sometimes something you see turns your stomach. Something you saw a friend of yours do in a looted city. I will not speak of it. I need a new road to follow.</string>
<stringname="bYrgTQ3s">It sounds as though you had no choice.</string>
<stringname="bZ1qYeIa">I'm a former Wolfskin. No doubt you have heard of us. I am not proud of what I did as a Wolfskin. But I am proud of the woodcraft I learned.</string>
<stringname="C19gsGFY">Yes - many is the healer who has come to specialize in the diseases of the rich.</string>
<stringname="C5pqZtNs">I roam the desert. I learn its secret ways, its gifts, as a lover learns the secrets and gifts of his beloved. But though the desert is bountiful, horses and steel must be bought with silver. So, I must sell my services from time to time.</string>
<stringname="CA6Ew4EL">I wandered from village to village, begging and stealing. You may imagine how I fared at ther mercy of the robbers of the road, who had no more fear of the Evil Eye then they did of man's laws. But eventually I learned to protect myself, and the body of one careless bandit afforded me with my first sword and leather jerkin.</string>
<stringname="CA6Ew4EL">I wandered from village to village, begging and stealing. You may imagine how I fared at the mercy of the robbers of the road, who had no more fear of the Evil Eye then they did of man's laws. But eventually I learned to protect myself, and the body of one careless bandit afforded me with my first sword and leather jerkin.</string>
<stringname="CAiFXWEf">Yes... I can tell you my tale...</string>
<stringname="CE8we5VF">Oh, I'll tell you my story. I don't mind who knows.</string>
<stringname="cGr6RvX7">The starving do what they must.</string>
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@@ -145,11 +154,13 @@
<stringname="D7IINWEl">I can tell you my story, but I don't know how interesting you will find it.</string>
<stringname="d8aCwUJj">When I returned to my stepfather's hall, my mother met me outside, in tears. She had given me up for dead - my stepfather knew the direction from which the enemy clan would come, and had intended for me to die. She did nothing to stop him, but since I had survived, she bid me flee - for if not, she feared, it was inevitable that our clan should sink into the abyss of kinslaying. So here I am, looking for a worthy lord for whom to fight.</string>
<stringname="dCHCb1hb">The horse lords, the men of the great tribes - well they gallup here, and they gallup there, shooting this and shooting that. They win battles, I'll give them that. But at the end of the day, if the enemy's still laughing at you behind their walls, all that galluping means nothing.</string>
<stringname="dCHCb1hb">The horse lords, the men of the great tribes - well they gallop here, and they gallup there, shooting this and shooting that. They win battles, I'll give them that. But at the end of the day, if the enemy's still laughing at you behind their walls, all that galloping means nothing.</string>
<stringname="ddQAXhd6">One night I was walking home with my brother when we ran into a group working for one boss they called Big Tuna. Told us our crew had killed one of theirs, and they were going to kill one of ours in return. Took my brother, wrapped a heavy chain around his legs, and threw him into the water. I don't know why they let me live. </string>
<stringname="DFaMQXWH">We foot-sloggers, we're the ones who go up the ladder and into the meat grinder. Did that for 25 years, and I'm still getting less pay than some boy fresh of his mother's tit who happens to own a horse. Piss on that, I said, and I went looking for other work.</string>
<stringname="DFaMQXWH">We foot-sloggers, we're the ones who go up the ladder and into the meat grinder. Did that for 15 years, and I'm still getting less pay than some boy fresh of his mother's tit who happens to own a horse. Piss on that, I said, and I went looking for other work.</string>
<stringname="DFW5i63X">I'll tell you - what most people believe is a pack of lies. I was in the Vaegir guard in the time of Arenicos. We took our discipline seriously; we were proud of it. Then the riots happened. What I saw in {IMPERIALCAPITAL}.. Even now it makes me feel ashamed.</string>
<stringname="DHCTLcp1">So here I am. I know men like me can make money guarding merchants, doing other tasks such as that. As long as no one wants me to hurt the innocent... Some day, I hope to find a new place to set up a smithy and start again.</string>
<stringname="DhQ7lgNr">Indeed. No doubt such traditions encourages husbands to behave better than they might do otherwise.</string>
<stringname="DIaT6pXi">Aye, well, once I was a rebel up in the back country, but rebels never last too long. Now I just want to serve and get paid. You've been around. You've met men like me before, I'm sure.</string>
<stringname="dJxHX9si">The way I look at it, we all fulfil the will of the Heavens in our own way. So I do what I'm good at.</string>
<stringname="dKAun6OE">By the time I became a woman I was sick of filthy huts and puking babies. I came to the towns and inquired after which households, among those who had wealth, might have a patient for me. Of course when I showed up at the door in my torn, stained dress they slammed it in my face. </string>
<stringname="DMQSb5MX">Ah... Very well, I can satisfy your curiosity.</string>
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@@ -165,8 +176,7 @@
<stringname="ELXn5Nv5">My lineage is as ancient as it is noble, so of course when King Derthert called the muster of the vassals, I took my father's horse and mail and rode off to join it. This was in our war against the Empire, you see.</string>
<stringname="EMkaeD9M">Hmm. Many men would begin their story by reciting their ancestry. I will not do this. A man should be judged on his own deeds, and a long list of ancestors does him no credit. Also, my family does not acknowledge me, so why should I acknowledge them?</string>
<stringname="EQzHDnlS">At any rate, I'll fight for any man willing to take the same risks that his men face.</string>
<stringname="ErBHSq7A">I do not know if you are familiar with the ways of my people. I will try to explain.</string>
<stringname="ESfQXTiG">I'm here because men turn a blind eye to the clear word of the law. It's sad, sad.</string>
<stringname="ErBHSq7A">I am from one of the highland clans, in the far east. I do not know if you are familiar with their ways. I will try to explain.</string>
<stringname="EtfElSU3">I did not know what to do with his body. I buried it up in the hills, then told my parents. For fear of bloodshed, they told me to leave, to find my way in the world some other way.</string>
<stringname="f4kz9PyG">A fitting reward for a man who defied the order that the Heavens instituted on earth for our own good.</string>
<stringname="F81bgvec">Instead, for my fee, I'll make sure that those who need protecting are protected, and those who need to die are dead.</string>
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@@ -177,7 +187,6 @@
<stringname="fGhNWKgK">But with the wars, and a lot of people losing their land, things changed on the docks. Too many hands, and not enough cargos. Gangs from the back alleys started getting involved. If you didn't hire their people, maybe your ship would go up in flames.</string>
<stringname="Fgsd3jBn">You call that the cause of justice?</string>
<stringname="fGTeaCVU">My father was even a little prouder than most, I suppose. One day he was insulted by the lord's bailiff and he upped and left, moved us higher in the hills to be away from all other men. </string>
<stringname="fjeSk6KX">I was sent by my village as part of the levy to join King Derthert's army some years back. Well, I found that I liked war better than peace. Nights around the campfire after a hard fight, drinking wine with my brothers, not knowing if the morning brings death or a fortune... Can't do better than that. So when the army disbanded I went with a mate who joined the Free Company.</string>
<stringname="FjrLf4LE">Indeed. Good infantry is the backbone of an army.</string>
<stringname="fkbaYOGt">But I don't intend to live this way forever. There are a thousand paths to turning outlaw, you see, but they mostly come to a single end. So I'm here, in the town, looking for other work.</string>
<stringname="FMnIiXge">What woman wouldn't relish a husband smelling of half-cured skins, slept in for the whole winter?</string>
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@@ -193,11 +202,15 @@
<stringname="G7ZQb9tQ">Now some would say I should have avenged my mother. But there was a wrinkle, you see - we didn't talk about it much, but he was my father, as he was the father of so many other children of our alley. So I fled our town, and now work here, using the skills my dear parents taught me.</string>
<stringname="GCd02obf">Perhaps one should not press a courtship too far, when one is a bandit.</string>
<stringname="Gepa1szA">My father was a merchant. When he died, he left his children a small inheritance. Most went to my brothers. They headed east, to the lands of the Padishah, leaving me in charge of our interests in Calradia. For me to step into my father's shoes, and be treated as an equal by other merchants, I knew I had to make a lot of money in a short time or they would elbow me out of the market.</string>
<stringname="GLXrkZbW">I'm a soldier of the imperial legions. How we came to this sorry state is a sad tale that you've no doubt heard already from my comrades. But I'm sure you're familiar with our mettle in battle, and our skill at turning youths into soldiers.</string>
<stringname="gMiceyRl">Well, some day there may be peace, and money to build again.</string>
<stringname="Gnczyx1v">I feel no guilt - they were trying to kill me, and some came very close. I did what I needed to do.</string>
<stringname="gnLnZuAH">Let me tell you friend, I'm hard. I've fought with the Skolderbrotva, the Vaegirs, any mercenaries worth their salt, I've been with them. Others may tell you've they've done what I've done, but I'm the real thing.</string>
<stringname="gPpi8a8n">I too am proud. So, I cannot work as a thief. Now I am looking for work that doesn't require me to bend down to the whims of guards, dogs and turnkeys.</string>
<stringname="gqWMrx3S">But I've been thinking.. Maybe I want to marry. And I guess I need more silver for that, probably more than I can get from the squirrels. So... People tell me that warleaders will pay for a good scout. And I know the woods well.</string>
<stringname="gSXfbTn5">I know the woods well. I can move quickly in them. I'll tell you all about a war party from the branches it broke marching through.</string>
<stringname="GT1ubyEr">I was the child of a caravan guard. I spent my babyhood swinging from a sling on the side of a camel, and my childhood chasing strays. But caravans are preyed upon by bandits and others, and I decided I don't like being prey. I reckon I have the skills to be a predator.</string>
<stringname="gysOh3M5">Aye - you've heard about the death of the last Emperor?</string>
<stringname="H7tFXLVN">I'm a soldier by trade. I've served in the empire's legions for 20 years. Once upon a time they were worthy of being called 'legions.' We served together for years, and we'd die rather than see our standards falter or fall.</string>
<stringname="H8wpFACA">The great names in our great clans - some of them are brave, and generous with the loot, but don't they like to take their names bandied out after every battle? Poets know there's silver in it if they sing the praises of the Bana Qild, the Bana Sarran - but those of us who are Bana Nobody, well, we deserve a bit of time in the sun too, don't you think?</string>
<stringname="haiCZjua">You truly are the dregs of the street, my lady.</string>
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@@ -210,16 +223,15 @@
<stringname="hinn6pmX">Life's better here in the city. More 'civilized,' you could say. Oh, the work can be a bit rough and tumble, but I feel I can relax after a long day with more refined company, like your good self.</string>
<stringname="hOsJjMZ8">I expect that my kin will soon return to their homes, but I will not. I cannot... I cannot be in a place where I am at the mercy of any beast on the rampage. I will ply my trade among warriors. I will learn to harm as well as to heal. And if the time comes for me to marry, I will live in a land where there is a king, even a tyrant, rather than raising a family amid the war of all against all.</string>
<stringname="hpKAp2ZW">The law is the law, and murder is murder.</string>
<stringname="Hq5HkaBw">I ran off to join the Brotherhood of the Woods as a kid. I don't know if I ever believed that they gave money to the poor, as the stories say. I just didn't want to till someone else's land until I dropped dead, like my father. And I thought maybe the Brothers would be better than common bandits.</string>
<stringname="HREVUExb">Anyway, well, I've had it with narrow escapes from charging cataphracts, and I'm going to seek work in a more professional force.</string>
<stringname="HSHRP59J">Of course, of course. A good engineer deserves his pay.</string>
<stringname="HtbAEEcR">Good thing you were exempt from the laws of man, eh?</string>
<stringname="I9FWCRtO">You look like someone who's been around a bit, so I probably don't have to tell you about how this faithless world of ours works. Sometimes it needs a man who's not afraid to get his hands dirty to make sure there's a bit of order.</string>
<stringname="iaagSMEa">And to think you had all the advantages of an educated childhood.</string>
<stringname="iAmsyL01">Then I joined the Skolderbrotva. The 'Shield Brothers.' It's a good name, you know? They spent most of their time hunkering behind their shields. Ha! Me, I'd wade into the midst of the enemy, dealing out death right and left - and, well, all they had to say afterward was 'Why didn't you keep ranks?'</string>
<stringname="IBlkbs19">So kind of you to take an interest in my troubles...</string>
<stringname="ieTVm3R8">I am {CHARACTER_NAME_STRING}, prince of the wastelands, lord of solitude, master of emptiness. If you wish to know my other names, you may ask my kinsmen, the leopard, the hyena and the gazelle..</string>
<stringname="ifBURmmv">I lived in a village to the north of here, across the gulf. It is a cruel land; there is no strong king, and lords think nothing of ravaging their neighbor's lands. My mother was skilled in the use of herbs to treat disease and wounds. I had a happy peaceful childhood - until one day, a month before I was to be married.</string>
<stringname="ifkJcbZu">I was enslaved by imperial raiders and taken to the city. I was bought by a nobleman, who had me fight other slaves for his personal amusement. But I purchased my freedom, eventually, and now intend to enjoy it.</string>
<stringname="iGH88WOz">At first I was angered, because I believed that I was being kept away from battle and glory. But as it turned out, that's the way the enemy army came. When I saw them at the ford, I challenged their leaders to single combat, as that was our way. They accepted, and sent forth a champion. To make a long story short, I slew him, and then two more who came after him. The rest graciously admitted that my victories meant they were obliged to retreat. </string>
<stringname="iK5Kaa7M">Well, if you wish to know how cruel a pack can be to one of its own, I could enlighten you.</string>
<stringname="ikVu2vQU">I've fought in a few wars, for one side or the other. You want to know about my-comrades-in-arms? Piss on them too. They all turn on you in the end.</string>
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@@ -228,6 +240,7 @@
<stringname="iPCX96mA">My father was a tenant farmer from near Usanc. By law, so long as he paid a third of his crop in tax, he couldn't be kicked off the land. But the landlord wanted to raise sheep, so he had a document forged that said my family moved here a generation ago and therefore wasn't covered by the law... It's a bit complicated, this part, but the end is that they cheated my family of its rights and we cast into poverty.</string>
<stringname="IRTr1FXk">Aye, once I made a fine living, in the Empire, stopping merchants on the roads and asking 'em for a bit of change. But there was a lass there, beautiful as the moon and just as cold, and she was my undoing. Courted by an imperial prefect but I thought, I can do better than that, with my takings, and I brought her the pick of the rings and finery and asked her to pass the evening with me. </string>
<stringname="IUbGYeJV">A man of another clan slew my father. My father had slain his uncle many years before. It was my job to avenge my father, but the plague carried off his killer first. So I would be expected to kill his brother instead. This is how it is with us.</string>
<stringname="IVIIkCaY">I was a sword for hire. Specialized in duels - you know, when there's a trial, and you can't work it out any other way. But you can run that racket too long - eventually the councils start banning you from fighting - so now here I am.</string>
<stringname="ivz2U3e2">See, there's a lot of tales about me, and only some of them are true. The Khuzaits call me by one name, the Aserai by another.</string>
<stringname="iWe4KrSO">About my past, that's all I have to say.</string>
<stringname="IWm0Dbzb">I would not do it. Fate had ended the feud. My mother begged me; my cousins begged me. They said others would mock my father's memory. They said no one would fear to steal our sheep and horses, to molest my sisters. They told me I had a choice: do my duty, or I would no longer be of their blood. </string>
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@@ -254,18 +267,21 @@
<stringname="JrnXaI9i">But the monasteries, you know. The gardens are lovely, the libraries rich... But getting up at dawn to pray for the health of the king and benefactors - I don't know if it was doing his Majesty's health much good, but it certainly wasn't doing me any favors. So I left.</string>
<stringname="JsP90A6a">I am sorry for your loss.</string>
<stringname="jsuOEu3a">There was a woman who lived out on the street. Refugee from the wars. Had a small child, a baby really. It was all she had. She'd make small cakes of wheat over a fire. Then one day a young man from the palace came down the street in his horse. Wasn't looking where he was going, didn't care, and his horse crushed that baby's head.</string>
<stringname="jUosHtkJ">Well, that was the life for me. So long as there was war, there was money, women, companionship. But recently there was a spot of peace, and I don't handle that so well. Was in a tavern here, drank more than I should, and some local lout starts cursing the Company. Calls my brothers bandits. I didn't care for that. Next thing I know I'm on top of him, smashing his face into the ground until he was dead.</string>
<stringname="Jv85koU3">I dressed as a man to serve in the legions. There are many of us who've done that, believe it or not. You've probably met one of us before, even if you didn't know it.</string>
<stringname="jwGsuWlN">Well, you know how these things go - his kin came to our village looking for my blood. They didn't find me, but wounded one of my cousins. It was time to teach them a lesson, but my brothers had a fit of cowardice. So they brokered a deal, and I was forced to leave. How do you like that?</string>
<stringname="K9ig7Mst">A man who cannot master his rage is a greater threat then the man who murders with intent.</string>
<stringname="KAK7DLTq">My family were farmers, but we were driven off of our land. We tried to make a new home in Charas, but the people weren't too keen on newcomers, and one of the gangs ran us out. Now I don't know what to do to myself, but whatever it is, I reckon I'll have to learn how to fight.</string>
<stringname="Kaz4NbDN">So Urkhun, a man of vision, offered to pay the weight in silver of any imperial engineer captured alive. These captives were forced to teach men like my father the art of siegecraft. My father, in turn, taught me.</string>
<stringname="KbdCL6nK">Very responsible of you. Can't go killing off the whole village, now.</string>
<stringname="KbP87Fzv">I was part of a clan that lived beyond the mountains to the south. We came under pressure from our neighbors, who wanted to take our lush grazing grounds in the foothills. We were an ancient clan, that valued its name, but in this generation we have been short of men, so I fought alongside my brothers - indeed, I slew our enemies' champion in single combat. That stopped the pressure on our lands, but not the violence. </string>
<stringname="Ke9L8QbX">The searing gravel plain knows me, as do the rippling sands and the shadowed canyon. The hidden spring whispers to me, 'Come hither and drink,' and the high outcrop unveils to me the horizons.</string>
<stringname="KGa4gmDW">Ah, yes - well, it would be beneath someone with a lineage like mine to pledge allegiance to the current parvenus who call themselves the emirs of the Aserai. So, I fight for those who pay me my value in denars, good noble denars.</string>
<stringname="KHq1bUOa">I am the prince of horsethieves! I have stolen Aserai mares from amid the tents and ridden them across the desert under the moon, I have taken Vlandian stallions from their paddocks, the sturdy ponies of the Khuzaits, and the steady geldings of the imperial lancers. But, I'll be the first to admit, it is risky work, so sometimes I do other jobs.</string>
<stringname="KiIb4MZU">Well... We do not bow and scrape, but we do honor our debts. If you were to get me out of here, my people would be quite grateful.</string>
<stringname="KNCnJN4n">I'll tell you my story. If it bothers you, I'd prefer you keep it to yourself - unless you've lived months on crusts of bread and chaff of grain, that is.</string>
<stringname="KNQCoxIJ">I am a sword for hire. Some think us scum but I have my own code of honor. If I kill a man, it must be in a fair fight. My last employer asked me to do something dishonorable, so now I am looking for a new employer.</string>
<stringname="kQO0wZLj">I guess I'd say that I'm just a lady who didn't care for her distaff, and took up a spear instead. If you want to know more, hire me, point me at your enemies, and I'll show you rather than tell you.</string>
<stringname="KrXlrnsg">The quarries are hiring. You could always haul rocks for a living, if you're so averse to launching them.</string>
<stringname="kSJEjvHm">I am a knight of the Vlandians. I am a man of honor. Honor, of course, dictates that one avenges all insults, regardless of the consequences. I shall say no more, only that I am in need of a new captain to follow due to complications in my previous circumstances.</string>
<stringname="KtN79I0H">That's it? The dishonorable part? That you work for merchants? I'd thought it would be a lot worse.</string>
<stringname="KyiL4Hvs">So here I am. Guess I'm not so interested in the marriage part, but I like the denars and I like my freedom. Maybe some day I'll surprise my Da with a nice farm and a couple of slaves to keep him happy in his old age.</string>
<stringname="kzvTFUbj">That's a rather unique theology.</string>
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@@ -273,12 +289,12 @@
<stringname="l0OCTrl9">Indeed... Well, at any rate, if you find there is an inconvenient wall between you and the object of your desire, and you wish it reduced to rubble, you know where to find me.</string>
<stringname="L14od7cC">When I was a boy, I was the best fighter in my village. 'You're stronger as a boy than a full-grown warrior,' people would say. I'm not boasting here - that's what they'd tell me. So when I came of age I went off to make my fortune.</string>
<stringname="l4A16aGs">It's a cruel world, and if you think a warrior's life is any easier, you have a painful lesson in store.</string>
<stringname="L7tJUtlN">I was an orphan, you see. Worked for a gang, as our kind must so often do. Did their foul work for them. But they perished in a siege, and I decided to strike out on my own, see what this fine land of Calradia could offer me.</string>
<stringname="lbLBkvoe">My father died shortly after my mother became pregnant with me. I was her only child. Like most of our people, she had wanted sons. So she raised me as a son, and boasted of me like she would boast about a son. When I was a baby, she boasted of how swiftly I emptied her breast of milk. When I was a girl, she boasted of how I killed steppe ducks with my bow. When I became a woman, she boasted that soon I would be the first of my age-set to bring home the head of an enemy slain in battle.</string>
<stringname="LDGC2Rjy">I'd be grateful if you got me out of here. Don't want to die just yet. If you want to know why I'm in here, well, I'll tell you.</string>
<stringname="LDlFgmIs">Well now, I am a warrior of the Battanians. There is no greater boast than that, I will tell you! But perhaps if you hire me, I can tell you more later about the great names I have slain and the heads I have taken.</string>
<stringname="lGSH1wsv">Pull up a chair, friend - you'll be glad you asked!</string>
<stringname="LIYZlInR">A hard life, but I must admire your fortitude, at least.</string>
<stringname="LjkQ4fYp">I come from a town where every alley has its 'protector.' These are men with some strength but also a lot of respect, who stand up for the rights of the people there. My father was our CommonArea's protector, and so it fell on me to take his job after he grew too old to do it himself.</string>
<stringname="LpoAp39X">Hmm... Yes... Legally, you do seem to have a case.</string>
<stringname="LjkQ4fYp">I come from a town where every alley has its 'protector.' These are men with some strength but also a lot of respect, who stand up for the rights of the people there. My father was our alley's protector, and so it fell on me to take his job after he grew too old to do it himself.</string>
<stringname="lQ4PPsnT">At any rate, I will find a master who allows me to win fame for myself. Or barring that, land and silver, so that I can buy a poet or two</string>
<stringname="LTvInwfa">I have a cup of wine before me. The room is nice and warm. Why not?</string>
<stringname="LVkWjJgD">I had a wild childhood, you can imagine. Living in the woods, never doing much work. But the winters were cruel. Ma died when I was twelve. And I knew I wanted something different. So I came to the town. Plenty of work for a girl who knows how to use a blade, and at least here there's a fire at night and a roof over my head. </string>
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@@ -291,6 +307,7 @@
<stringname="mPLvjSiB">A lot of heads... You can imagine, a lot of other warriors were envious of me. Some in my village even conspired against me, had me expelled. I lost my hall, and I had to bury the heads. I doubt you could recognize them any more. What a pity, eh? A collection like that will never be seen again.</string>
<stringname="mSQSZyEF">You probably know that the Khuzaits once lived out on the open grass. But our khans became used to luxuries. They lived in cities, and wished to trade with and make war upon other kings. Khan Urkhun, whom some call the Great and others call the Cruel, decided the clans must live in fixed places, so he could count their warriors and levy them, and count their flocks and tax them. Thirty years ago Khan Urkhun ordered all the clans of the Khuzaits to claim land and live upon it, and the noyans to build castles. Most complied, for they had come to value their comforts more than their freedom.</string>
<stringname="mxK0bSmE">I am no warrior, not yet - but I could be one. I am good with a sling, and a knife. I can run fast. I can bear hardship. I would stand my ground, because I have nowhere to run.</string>
<stringname="N0yE1Ptz">I was an herbalist in a village in the north. But our home was raided, and I've been forced to wander in search of work. There are many like me on the roads of Calradia.</string>
<stringname="N9rVRfaW">Oh.. Of course I am! This is fascinating. But tell me about your own deeds.</string>
<stringname="NDR2Xcoq">But you see, for a big man, it's not all sitting in the shade and counting your money. A big man must beat and he must kill, or people will not fear you. And one day, as I watched, he beat my mother to death over the share of his cut.</string>
<stringname="nHrF87Up">I guess there's something to be learned from those skilled at all trades.</string>
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@@ -301,15 +318,16 @@
<stringname="nqLiWPR7">Such pieties from a man who intends to pillage the labor of others.</string>
<stringname="Nz0iyKaM">All one's pepper in one warehouse. A cautionary tale indeed.</string>
<stringname="O3Pkql2y">Takes more to being a warrior than a horse and a sword, young one.</string>
<stringname="O48tYFZ0">Anyway, get me out of here, and I reckon the other wolves will be grateful. You'd be upholding the law by which we live, you see?</string>
<stringname="o6ugLOZi">I came from a good family, with much land. Since I was a girl, I wished to be a shield-maiden. I practiced fighting with the village boys and the old warriors. But it is a strange thing - while some families in our lands take pride in a daughter who takes up arms, others accord it a great shame, and my father was of the latter type.</string>
<stringname="oAyYQazn">She agreed, eagerly enough! There was wine and talk, but too much wine, and I slept off. Then woke in the morning, I did, and hooves were clattering outside and up comes the prefect and a file of horsemen, and away they took me to the town to be hanged.</string>
<stringname="OcCLz4je">When I was a child, my mother sent me out on the streets to beg and pick pockets. And the big man of our quarter took a cut of that. I got a little older and my mother taught me how to rob drunken travellers, and the big man took a cut of that.</string>
<stringname="OESUaPeh">So anyway, I need money to build a new hall, and start a new collection. So if someone wants to pay me my worth as a warrior, my spear is theirs!</string>
<stringname="OgdD6bs9">If you really took down a dozen men fighting single-handed, that is quite impressive.</string>
<stringname="OGyYFIEA">The guardsmen came to burn our neighbor's house, so their debts would be forgotten. The flames spread to our house, and it was destroyed. My father tried to save his strongbox, and that was his undoing. A riot is a holiday for thieves and robbers, and some saw him dragging it through the streets, so they knifed him and took it. We tried to find shelter with my uncle, but there was no food in the city, and he turned us out. So we joined the refugees in the country, living on what we could steal from the fields. </string>
<stringname="ohA8pdlS">I kill for a living. I've killed a lot, and if you want me to kill for you, you'll hire me. You seem to have been around a bit. I don't think I need to tell you any more. I'm sure you can reckon if I'm worth my price.</string>
<stringname="OHFZ9EAk">Mmm.... Well, for now, I do not know what to do with myself. Perhaps I could consider joining a warband, if the commander was well-bred and kept his word.</string>
<stringname="omEoa2q7">But this cousin... I would not marry that man! He was a boor, a drunk - never there was a night that he did not reak of wine, never a morning that he did not reak of vomit! But a cataphract's daughter is not some chit you can marry against her will. I took a horse from my father's estate - my horse, legally - his old sword, and rode off.</string>
<stringname="OohIyeJo">My parents had no sons, only daughters, and I as the eldest inherited our warehouse and camels. It is common enough here for women to do that. But banditry and the fortunes of trade ruined me, which is also common, and now I must make my money some other way.</string>
<stringname="oqWFzmkN">Blessed be the Gods, happened that my cousin Aed was in the guard. He sprung me that night from the prison, and together we went roaming round the country. But a passing magistrate decided he weren't parting with his purse, and pulled his blade rather than handing it over like a sensible lad. I took him down, but now before my poor Aed was butchered. See now the price of woman's ingratitude?</string>
<stringname="OqzUb0E6">My story? Certainly I can tell you, if it interests you.</string>
<stringname="osaIOFNx">I like to fight, I'm good at it, and in my opinion, the Heavens smile on a man who loves his job.</string>
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@@ -322,6 +340,7 @@
<stringname="OYOwasMe">You can imagine - it's a bit of a racket. People build arches that fall down, and his colleagues go on recommending him because he's someone's brother or old apprentice. The greatest sin in our brotherhood is criticizing the work of other engineers. </string>
<stringname="P1EHkSAx">When my second suitor passed of a fever, I was unnerved. When my third suitor was thrown from his horse on a hunt, I knew I must do something..</string>
<stringname="P1fLl2KS">See, some girls are attracted to bad boys. My mother was one of those. Bandits came to her village one day and she made up her mind. Ran off with them. 'Married' the leader. But he was killed soon, so she married the one who replaced him. And so forth and so on.</string>
<stringname="pabl5PiA">I was a shepherd. Normally the job is given to boys, but I always had a knack for bows and slings, which we use to keep the wolves away. The trouble with being a shepherd, though, is that there's always the chance of quarrels with the herders of the neighboring village over disputed pastures or missing sheep. Perhaps I was too good with a bow - I killed a neighbor. My parents were poor and could not afford the blood money, so I fled.</string>
<stringname="pD92hewA">My father was a merchant in {IMPERIALCAPITAL}. We lived in a rich house, with many servants. I wanted for nothing. Our neighbor was a moneylender, who specialized in loans to the imperial guard. That turned out to be a bad neighborhood in which to live, when the riots came. </string>
<stringname="PGa4Ehaa">My father was a wheelwright. Everyone knew that the best work was in {IMPERIALCAPITAL}, in the streets around the hippodrome fixing chariots. So we sold our shop and went there, he and I - my mother was dead. The rumors weren't wrong, the work was good, but then you know what happened. The riots, the hippodrome burned, and my father killed for being a foreigner.</string>
<stringname="phhXgKRm">Some resisted. The Karakhergit - you may have heard of them. They still dwell in the steppes but they are outcaste, raided for slaves by the others. My people were the Uvait. We were broken up - some bands were lured into the villages with silver, others were hunted down, defeated, and their sons taken as hostages. </string>
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@@ -330,25 +349,28 @@
<stringname="PIu7b9wO">I was born around the time she married her fourth husband. My father, well, he was hanged a few months before that. A couple others were hanged, but mostly they were killed by their own followers. You see, the trick to leading bandits is that you can't value your life very much. Never back down from a fight or an insult. Sooner or later your luck will run out. Usually sooner.</string>
<stringname="pKMVhx2v">They never cease to shock me, the sordid tales you hear from the dregs of the alleys.</string>
<stringname="PKzUUVKC">So go on - ask me how thick a mangonel's struts must be to withstand the torsion to throw a five-istar ball. Ask me how heavy a ram's head must be, compared to its total weight, so that it does not rebound from the gate and strike the men who wield it. I never imagined I would know such things, when I dreamed of making men's lives better through the dispensing of justice.</string>
<stringname="PO4nU3Lz">Mince words as you like, but murder is murder.</string>
<stringname="pQVFVqa9">As well they should have. Those who curse their protectors deserve no home.</string>
<stringname="PWpTT0NM">I told the captain that I couldn't do these things. The alley people - they had to trust me. The captain didn't take 'no' for an answer. He pressured me. He threatened my father. What could I do? I couldn't betray my people but I couldn't betray my father either. I took my family and left.</string>
<stringname="pya1JSNe">I was a surgeon, trained at the imperial academy. But my home and infirmary were burned in a bout of unrest, and now I must wander the world a bit. There are many of us out there, you know, forced to make what living we can.</string>
<stringname="pzK7TN05">But one day I was contacted by an agent of the Bureau of Barbarian Affairs. I do not know how well you know them. Their original mission was to keep the foreign tribes divided and weak, but they expanded their remit into all the affairs of the empire, anything that might be deemed a threat. At first they wanted small harmless details about my patients. To do so was a violation of my oath, but I was anxious to have the favor of the Bureau. But soon they began to call on me for more and more.</string>
<stringname="PzOwAteI">I am of the Karakhergit. If you haven't heard that name, you might have heard us called the 'Slave Tribe,' because that is what other clans of the Khuzaits call us. Which is strange, because we are the only one of them that does not bow our head to a khan and call him 'Master.'</string>
<stringname="q3ZXATdq">We burned away some of the forest and planted barley. My mother died of a fever, but me and my sister and my father, we lived up there 10 lean and lonely years, all so my father didn't have to doff his hat to any other man. Then he vanished in a blizzard.</string>
<stringname="q71Cbib7">I am a warrior, but I am not from one of the greater clans. After a battle, I may get a bloodstained weapon pried from the enemy's hand or a pat on the head from my emir, but no song of my deeds. No robe of honor. I intend to fight for someone who see in people more than their name.</string>
<stringname="q977EaUU">You ask a lot of questions, friend. So I'll tell you what you need to know, and no more.</string>
<stringname="qbYupvSJ">So I'm having no more of that. I'm on the look-out for an outfit that employs real fighters.</string>
<stringname="qE4rBOI7">I am the son of a knight, but not a son born in wedlock. I was raised in my father's house, but when he was taken prisoner and ransomed, he had to sell much of what he owned, and therefore could no longer support me. I decided to set out to make my own name, if my family could not give me one. It is a common tale.</string>
<stringname="qFLZGWHj">My father was a wheelwright but there's more money in catapults than in carts these days. I did a bit of work repairing the mangonels round the walls of my hometown, and I reckon I can build some as well.</string>
<stringname="qFU6cYSe">When I was just a baby, a woman said to have the Sight came to my father's hall. When she saw me, she told him that she saw the mark of the faeries upon me. She performed a divination, and said she had learned that I was to be a prank played on mankind: I should grow up to be a great beauty, but that any man who proposes to marry me shall die.</string>
<stringname="qgmt8aPz">So that was no kind of life, neither. I left the woods, paid a little money to friends who got my name off the outlaw list, and now I'm a regular law-abiding citizen. Officially, that is.</string>
<stringname="QGw2qtpU">Of course, my word being that of a Karakhergit, and his being one of the well-dressed but servile people of the towns, they will believe his, and hang me.</string>
<stringname="QIrR9NhL">A wise decision.</string>
<stringname="QJCieDQ9">My father sent me off into the world, to build our fortune with my sword. This is a common story among the sons of our people.</string>
<stringname="qlAW1aTi">What do you want to know about? My family? Piss on them. I left home as a child and never had cause to regret it. My brothers can take my inheritance, and I hope they choke on it.</string>
<stringname="QlWhygXi">I was born out of wedlock. My father took me in, but of course there was no question of me inheriting anything. I did not wish to be a burden on my brothers, so I decided to go to war.</string>
<stringname="qMPY1rUo">Well, you know what a man of honor does when he is insulted like that -- I struck him down, and then his friends came against me, and I struck them down too! I laid a full dozen of them down before they finally overbore me. Have you ever heard of a more glorious stand against such odds in the name of honor?</string>
<stringname="QRgltY66">May all of us have such honorable foes!</string>
<stringname="QUamabEa">I was a merchant's daughter. There was a bout of unrest in our home city, and our home and warehouses were burned and our family made penniless. I shall spare you the details. I am sure you've heard plenty of similar tales in these times.</string>
<stringname="qVQdEYyJ">My family had debts so I joined the army. I guess I always liked men's work more than women's work. The legions took hill women as scouts but I was never the hidey-sneaky type. So I did what I did to be in the spear line.</string>
<stringname="qxBbhtLH">Perhaps you can rise above the sorry circumstances of your birth.</string>
<stringname="QyYYfo4o">Aye - you've heard about the death of the last Emperor? Well, what most people believe is a pack of lies.</string>
<stringname="qyvj53mi">Once I was just another back-country healer, attending to squalling babies and superstitious villagers. But now I'm trying to make the money that my skill with medicine deserves.</string>
<stringname="R2haBQK7">I had no special desire to be married but my family found me a groom anyway. I consented, but my husband and I detested each other from the first. Once he insulted me in the marketplace, I cursed his manhood, he struck me, and I pulled a knife and he pulled his. I won.</string>
<stringname="R36Bl55h">Most noble of you, sir.</string>
<stringname="r8ga8i93">I like to fight, so I made it known that I'd fight for anyone if the price is right. Shed a little blood, make a little coin, drink it away, make a little more, all in the cause of justice. Not a bad life, eh?</string>
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@@ -359,6 +381,7 @@
<stringname="RBwhiMkD">We came down on the thief's village one day at dawn. They were too many, and we were beaten. My brothers and most of my kin were all slain. I had nowhere to go.</string>
<stringname="RdiZT1Gb">Well, I can't just sit around and drink myself to death, so I sell my sword to anyone worth following. I'm a good trainer - I don't bother with horsemen or archers, but if you've got good steady footman I can do a lot with them.</string>
<stringname="re1jRErx">Some speak well of their time in the Wolfskins. It is intended to teach you the ways of the woods. But the 'pack' I joined were all rich feral children, playing at being animals.</string>
<stringname="RewhujIa">My family lost their herds and land in a dispute, and so we pledged ourself to another clan as our protectors. They treated us like servants. Once I stood up for myself, and ended up killing one of our 'protectors' in a fight. They say that is a great shame to do, but it seems that whatever happens to you, once you've tasted defeat, you encounter shame.</string>
<stringname="rgSWtZ0w">I'll tell you my story. I suppose it is a fine lesson in how destiny makes mock of our intentions.</string>
<stringname="rKeqsRyj">I'll tell you my tale. But I will warn you in advance: It is of no concern to me whether you approve or disapprove of what I did.</string>
<stringname="RObjObjy">Certainly - I make no secret of my ambitions.</string>
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@@ -369,21 +392,26 @@
<stringname="rSwj5KBb">Let me tell you something - I'm sick of cowardice, sick of those who don't stand by their comrades and their kin.</string>
<stringname="ruX5vDpE">I fancy myself a philosopher of medicine, you see. My parents sent me to a monastery when I was young, to study both the healing power of the Heavens and the healing powers of man - the science of herbs, that is to say.</string>
<stringname="RZglJSZ3">I think my story shows that I am adaptable, at least. If there was room for me in a warlord's retinue, say, I imagine I could quickly learn whatever skills were needed.</string>
<stringname="RZizPvaI">I'm an engineer, with imperial army training. I'm sure by now you've met a few of us around, and know a bit about what we can do.</string>
<stringname="rZs4HKkc">Necessity or not, you seem to take pride in what you did.</string>
<stringname="sbK6AEjB">I have scraped together a few coins. I will not say how, but they were enough to buy a sword. I am determined to earn enough to buy my people what was taken away from them - herds. I am sad to say I know little of the steppe, but I know much of the towns, of the back streets, of how to live in the gutters and shadows and grow strong.</string>
<stringname="sfFLudTM">One time they came at midnight - they had a man who plotted against the Emperor, they said, and they needed a confession, and wished me to use my art to elicit that confession. If I refused, they said, they would disclose our relationship to my patients - I would be ruined. I went with them, to my shame, and what I was asked to do to that man's body -- I shall not repeat it.</string>
<stringname="sfgZhUgT">I grew up in the north of the Vlandian lands. Sometimes men up there take their families far up in the hills, to live without any master or lord. But it's a hard life, cold and lonely. I want something better. I know the wilds well. I figure I can be of good use to a lord or lady, as a scout, and can at least choose my master.</string>
<stringname="SfmWAuv3">The elders sat in judgment on our case. As it turned out, they had plenty of precedent. They accorded our fight a fair duel, and thus I was innocent of murder. On the other hand, I was excluded from his inheritance. I suppose that was fair, although I would have enjoyed wearing his jewels and riding his horse in front of his family.</string>
<stringname="SmWz2t65">I'm a bandit, love. I like bad men and dangerous deeds. Got it from my mother, I suppose. But banditry - you earn your silver, you spend it, you never spend long in the same place. There have to be more stable ways to kill, loot and roam.</string>
<stringname="spHoDrGN">I said nothing. I let my brother hang.I thought I did the right thing, but every night thereafter I saw accusation in the eyes of my fellows. I could not face them. I fled. And here I am now.</string>
<stringname="suf4hUxN">When I was a lad, I dabbled in crime and banditry a bit, but am now seeking more honest work. I still like the fighting and killing part, though. Anyway, I'm sure you've met a fair amount of men like me on your journeys.</string>
<stringname="SwwXXPNe">We could have marched out in battle array. No one would have stood against us. If we couldn't restore order, at least we could have gone home with honor. But instead, we turned our anger against the city. My comrades looted, set fires, even murdered those who we were supposed to protect. It was a disgrace.</string>
<stringname="SYBe3aIC">Do you have a trade? Any skills? Or just a string of ancestors?</string>
<stringname="T07xEuQR">A noble decision!</string>
<stringname="t0VGwvPo">You may have heard of my father - Cynan fen Aedeg. Many called him Cynan the Brave. It's my life's goal to be his worthy son, though he died when I was a baby. My stepfather, though rich in land and cows, does not have the same reputation, although I resolved early in my life that duty to my mother necessitated that I serve him as loyally as I would my natural father.</string>
<stringname="TAC5Tnx4">But when I got older, well, it wasn't so easy to take me on the road. Too many boys giving me funny looks. And my Da, he wanted a good husband for me, but the boys he knew weren't the marrying type. So I said to him, 'I'll be like you, Da, carry a sword and guard rich merchants. And maybe, with the money I earn, some decent boy will love me for my dowry, if not my family name.' He fussed a bit about that but he had no better ideas.</string>
<stringname="tbbQ3PZH">You slew your husband in a duel? Get away!</string>
<stringname="TD3babBS">I was a robber on the highways, in the Empire, making a fine living from the merchants on the roads. But I loved a girl in town, and snuck in to visit her from time to time. Then I got caught, and had to reveal the hiding place all my hard-earned loot to the guards to escape the noose. So here I am now.</string>
<stringname="TgN0DvXA">Slavers took me when I was a girl. The Empire were legends of warrior-women out in the deep steppe, and when I was sold, they claimed I was one of these - to fight other slaves, to entertain them by making their legends come true.</string>
<stringname="TIYbctCQ">My father died shortly after my birth. I was my mother's only child. Our clan was poor, and a woman with a baby - especially a girl-baby - was only a drain on what little they had. So we were sold to another clan, as servants. Some years later, when my mother died, I stole one of their swords and one of their horses and rode off into the grass.</string>
<stringname="TNOM6nuo">I am from one of the lesser known clans of the Aserai. We take the name of an undistinguished younger son of the Qildi line from five generations back. We have never held fiefs or won much wealth, but when the Qild called out their kinfolk, or the tribes were summoned by the Sultan, we took our place in the battle line.</string>
<stringname="tpPE2Ert">There's not much more to say. My master was a sadistic animal but he let me keep my winnings, and eventually buy my freedom. I think he may also have realized that eventually, had he kept me against my will, he'd have ended up with a severed neck vein. So here I am, looking to make a living through the only means I know - shedding other people's blood. Got work?</string>
<stringname="tqbc8gOd">I suppose you should be given the benefit of the doubt.</string>
<stringname="tqdwOLPg">So here I am now, drinking to my poor cousin's memory, and looking for a bit of honest work. Well, it needn't be too honest, I suppose.</string>
<stringname="tRgVxROs">I doubt you have such a collection, and if you did, it would be the last thing I'd like to see.</string>
<stringname="TVQEb0MJ">Such a cruel decree...</string>
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@@ -392,22 +420,25 @@
<stringname="TxQztLfy">I am one of those whose clan was hunted down a generation ago when they refused the decree of Urkhun Khan, that they must settle and be taxed. They took our flocks, and we have since lived like beggars on the edge of the towns. The far grass teases us with its beauty, but if we went there with no sheep, we would soon starve.</string>
<stringname="TxwPTwvh">So I have resolved to hire out my sword and make enough money for such a ship. Having done so, I shall take it to faraway shores and bring home silver and slaves so that we may buy land enough for all. In this way I will do my duty to my family.</string>
<stringname="TzOdlTeb">Yeah.. The merchants give me jobs. But I'm not sure I care much for guarding caravans. A lot of sitting around listening to boring talk about prices.</string>
<stringname="TzRarDyf">A few weeks later, got sent to a village to buy some boots. Found a whole detachment of the town watch there waiting for me. Brought me to town and charged me with a dozen murders, none of which I did. No question Vatand shopped me. The good news is, a week after I was taken, he got knifed while he slept. So the old Brotherhood, the noble Brotherhood - it's not quite dead yet! I am though, most likely.</string>
<stringname="U0zuHtwa">Of course - and I'm sure you'll agree it's a tale worth of the telling!</string>
<stringname="u1yi8YOM">Well, I guess I showed myself a bit too eager. The councils stopped accepting me as champion. Told me I sold my sword too cheaply, they said. What can I say? I have to look for other work now. </string>
<stringname="U6GQq4Id">They would sit around the fire at night and belittle each other. I was never quick with my tongue and the others learned to gang up on me. At one point I could take it no longer - I stabbed one in a fight. No one knew how to treat the wound, so he bled to death. And then I fled.</string>
<stringname="UCpJEIE3">I am a warrior. A shield-maiden, as the Nords say. It is not uncommon in the northern lands. Perhaps you have met some of us before.</string>
<stringname="uHbzVsYk">I come from the highlands. My people were suspicious folk. It is easy to them to get into their heads that a child, especially a girl, practices witchcraft. I had two neighbors die of fevers within the same season, and so I was chased from my home and driven to fend for myself. Which I can, and did, but now I'm looking for steady work.</string>
<stringname="UnNwWJT2">I don't mind telling.</string>
<stringname="uSYQb9KY">Now, in Urkhun's day, if a Khuzait apprenticed in siegecraft went to work for another master, it meant a very painful death if he was recaptured. But times have changed. The richest plums of the empire's cities have fallen, and they build their walls higher than they once did. The Khuzait lords pay less for a siegemaster, and that pay is often late. So I am up to taking other employment, if it is offered.</string>
<stringname="UydGgLl9">I'm a trapper, a hunter. Used to be I could make a good living through furs... But with all these bandits about.... I'd rather be part of an army, I think. Spent my whole life in the woods and I reckon I could do well as a scout.</string>
<stringname="V6boHnpo">I am of the desert. I know its ways. The wind guides me. The scorpion comes into my camp at night and tells me its secrets. The howls of the jackal bring me news of the hunt.</string>
<stringname="vgcTdEvc">I was the son of a slave, but my bought me my freedom and an apprenticeship with a healer. I could make a lot of money as a doctor if I came from a well-known family that would attract patients. But I don't, so I offer my skills to war-leaders, who cannot afford to be so picky.</string>
<stringname="VgyWyNvL">Yeah... I'll tell you a tale of life in the great Khuzait hordes, terror of the world.</string>
<stringname="vhQVhYFV">I started following the armies around. Always work for a herbalist, and while I don't care much for dawn marches, they're infrequent enough, and often there's a spare cart to sleep on. And warriors too - wounds of the body and wounds of the soul. I do far more good there then I ever did among my fellow monks, I can tell you.</string>
<stringname="VHyXsXu7">You know, you'd think this place could serve proper kumis, instead of this piss they call wine... Sorry, where were we? Ah yes, my story.</string>
<stringname="VILYhtjW">I'll tell you my story.</string>
<stringname="VL2MfGM3">But they don't seem to care much about that. So mostly now I'm saying the dead man was a right tight bastard, and I could name you a dozen men who'd be proud to have cut his throat. Found some sympathy in town with that line, I have. Still, I need to stand trial.</string>
<stringname="vKSGJNxT">I am a warrior. I would recite to you my lineage, but that would take an hour. I would tell you my deeds, but that would take two. So, instead - if you pay me - I shall come with you and fight your enemies, and that will be the best demonstration of my mettle.</string>
<stringname="VLIz9b7u">You thought there was such a thing as noble bandits? Perhaps you went in search of fairies next?</string>
<stringname="vney5HbZ">I rode for years behind Monchug Khan, even before he was khan. I had good name and a good sum of money. There was a girl in a neighboring village, quiet thing but good childbearing hips, who I thought would make a good bride. </string>
<stringname="VnfPb4ji">Indeed. There's much to be learned from the foreigner, whoever the foreigner is to you.</string>
<stringname="VoubR8y2">Yes, I know such injustices are common.</string>
<stringname="Vs428XEb">That seems a reasonable ambition. A good scout can command a high price.</string>
<stringname="VUbklG5U">I was raised as a stableboy. But I had a gift for breaking horses, and for my hard work, and the risks I took to my neck taming young stallions, the old lord promised me that on my fifteenth birthday I should have a horse of my own.</string>
<stringname="Vwhnrf66">So here I am. I have mouths to feed, and the thing I know best is to fight.</string>
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@@ -418,17 +449,20 @@
<stringname="WAsRyGDR">{CHARACTER_NAME_STRING} is fine. No need to bother the hyenas. So, what can you do?</string>
<stringname="waUxgr5b">Let me tell you something else - war is not a game. It's not a game. Play by the rules and you die. The streets aren't the arena. If you think someone's your enemy, you take them down - don't wait for a polite challenge.</string>
<stringname="WBE6MeCl">That was the day my life changed. A band from a nearby village came and attacked us. We had done them no harm; we had never even thought of them as our enemies. But they wanted our cattle. They killed my mother and the youth who I was to marry, and burned our village. Everything gone. Those who lived fled into the woods.</string>
<stringname="wGyCPQwG">I kill for a living. If you want me to kill for you, pay me what I'm worth. If you don't, then don't waste my time.</string>
<stringname="wH5GepOD">I am Battanian. But for 20 years, I fought for the Empire. Indeed, most Battanians my age learned their trade in the legions. We saw no dishonor in it. They fed us well, they paid us well, they respected our courage.</string>
<stringname="wiR9bSfw">I try at least to pick and choose my master, and hope at least that some of our equestrian honor rubs off on the men of commerce.</string>
<stringname="wk1jPh1S">A sad tale.</string>
<stringname="WmGxA0P1">But there's no legions any more. And since Caladog became king, well, he's gotten the young to think that to fight for the Empire is treason. Treason to what? 'Battania'? There is no Battania. Never has been. Just a bunch of quarreling warlords, who'll steal your cows as soon as you turn your back on them.</string>
<stringname="WQCAanal">Ah, the old days. And no doubt back then they complained about the older days. I've heard enough.</string>
<stringname="wQRSM1lz">My father was a judge, and as such, I was educated to be a judge. That is usually the case with us. But I was always better at mathematics than letters. So I took mercenary work, making catapults. My father cast me out of his home in disgust. He once told me that the greatest privilege on earth is to dispense justice, but he will never know the joy of firing a mine and seeing the walls of a tyrannical baron or cruel archon crumble, so what does he know?</string>
<stringname="wRS9yqyx">I fled a bad marriage. There are many like me; I meet them in every tavern in Calradia. I am lucky in that my father was a cataphract, and taught me to ride and fight before he died, and I suppose that's how I must make a living.</string>
<stringname="WtNQGw3o">My family were tenant farmers. But that life was rubbish, and our lord was rubbish too. So I fled to the woods, where there were rebels, called themselves the 'Brotherhood of the Woods.' Rubbish of the woods, more like it. Puffed-up bandits. So now I'm looking for a boss who's not rubbish. Does such a thing exist? I guess I'll find out.</string>
<stringname="WvLK5myZ">So I acquired some denars - I will not say how - and with it bought a silk robe and some jewelry. This got me inside the doors of rich men's houses, and the cures I worked, and the reputation I earned, have done the rest. </string>
<stringname="wxSiMjJ0">Anyway, you come across a chief who needs a reliable sword in his warband, you let me know.</string>
<stringname="Wz71n66t">I'm sorry. Are you not paying attention?</string>
<stringname="Wzl0V95v">Pour yourself a drink stranger. I'll tell you all you need to know.</string>
<stringname="WZyybR2g">A tragic tale. My condolences.</string>
<stringname="X4DnbFDf">Look, if you want to give this tale a really happy ending, you think you could get me out of here? Prove in a duel that I'm innocent? Some of the Brothers - they really are my brothers. They'd pay you well.</string>
<stringname="x50bW6NF">I should have refused - my practice was ruined anyway. To blot out the memory of that night, I took opium, until my pallid face so alarmed my patients that they no longer called on me. So I fled the city, and have wandered from town to town ever since. I would welcome steady work, if I could find it.</string>
<stringname="x6acpIw7">So... Anyway, if you've got an enterprise or two that might not be entirely legal, and need a sharp eye on the villains you've got running it, you may find that my skills are of use to you.</string>
<stringname="X8Zkp0Ut">The insults were many, and they had no choice but to respond. One cousin was slain in a duel, one cousin killed his opponent, so we had two new bloodfeuds on our hands. I chose to leave home before it got any worse.</string>
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@@ -436,8 +470,8 @@
<stringname="X9zcXYPa">I can fight. And I don't mind doing work that others would shirk.</string>
<stringname="xB6zj8ei">I wasn't the type to take that meekly. My cousin, he'd lost his land too some years before, and he'd run off to join the Brotherhood of the Woods. People said that they stood up for the poor. Took money from those who did injustice, and gave it to those who were wronged. So I went to join them too.</string>
<stringname="Xe2pVmnX">I was the brat of a caravan guard. Never knew my mother, but my Da kept me close. I grew up running between the legs of camels on the steppe, eavesdropping on merchant gossip in the sarais, eating sesame cakes bought me by the other guards. A happier childhood you couldn't imagine.</string>
<stringname="XEsq2Gd6">I was a smith, but I had a problem with gambling. I borrowed from an alley gang, I couldn't pay back, and, well, you probably know what comes next. A smith just can't pack up and go to another place. There's guilds that make that difficult. But I'm a big fellow, I figure I can swing a weapon as well as my tools, and there might be work for me in the wars.</string>
<stringname="XfMCfCXk">I resolved to take up the profession of arms, so that all men know that I am not the marrying type. And I tell all others of the curse upon me, as soon as I meet them. And I am far from my family, so no man will go to my father to ask for my hand.</string>
<stringname="XiIMYkX6">See, they want to blame me for killing a man back when I was a wolf. My father and he had a quarrel over land. First, I'm saying I didn't kill him. And second, I'm saying that, had I killed him, it would have been back when I was a wolf. So either way I'm innocent, you see?</string>
<stringname="XKsjweaA">Unfortunately, I've found that siegework pays irregularly. My contracts are usually honored if the city falls and is looted. But if dysentery breaks out in the siege camp and the army must march away, well, you may find that you submit your receipts in vain.</string>
<stringname="xl6SnA6n">I was a soldier. It was my father's profession. I thought it would be easy for me. I wasn't scared of death or hardship. But things happen in war - not the deaths, the wounds, the screaming - but terrible things. It's difficult to explain.</string>
<stringname="xNPAZdtX">My father is Aytham, son of Thamuq, who was son of Munbilas - the elder son, mind you, not the younger - and he was son of Numayn - Numayn of the Mountain, that is, not the less illustrious ones of that name - and he was son of Zais.</string>
...
...
@@ -448,6 +482,7 @@
<stringname="XVZGCB0a">Yeah, sure.</string>
<stringname="xzLIIPjB">A knave who could not abide other men's knavery! May such wonders never cease.</string>
<stringname="xZuqLfE7">But I was young and foolish. Bandits - well, who'd have thought? They're real animals. Always drunk and stabbing each other, or too drunk to feel cold so they catch the plague and end up coughing up blood, or drunk and asleep when the patrol comes around so they end up on the gallows - I suspect you get the idea.</string>
<stringname="Ycc0gsX9">I kill for a living. You don't look too wet behind the ears, so I'm sure I don't need to tell you any more about myself than that.</string>
<stringname="YDPpShfF">Sensible man, that Urkhun. Nomads are the enemy of order.</string>
<stringname="YfExAEAK">So, here I am, looking for a captain under whom to serve. And if I learn my trade well, perhaps I shall one day reclaim my birthright!</string>
<stringname="YgZJYYds">Few war leaders have the patience for followers with private vendettas.</string>
...
...
@@ -461,18 +496,19 @@
<stringname="z9CN2ibp">They protected us, but they treated us with contempt. We were told to hew wood for them, to bring them water. We submitted. For the sake of our old, of our nursing mothers, we submitted. But it was hard for the young men to take.</string>
<stringname="Zb6ObDEB">Sounds like you have a good head for business.</string>
<stringname="zb6VN6rr">Started in the Vaegir guard. I found that I was the only real warrior among them. They were all about marching here and there in their pretty uniforms, not pulling sword from scabbard for months on end. I told them what I thought, and my captain told me to keep my mouth shut or leave. So I left.</string>
<stringname="zB8602VE">I'd fight for myself, but a month in irons has left me a bit unsteady on my legs. But if you stand for me and win, my mates in the Company will pay the fine and I'm sure afford you a handsome purse as well.</string>
<stringname="zdOaQbDp">I'll tell you my story. But if you would judge me for what I do, you're welcome to do so, but I do not care to hear it.</string>
<stringname="ZhZlhNfn">Aye, so you want my story then?</string>
<stringname="ZKJ2pEoL">A knife in the dark is a bandit's version of nobility, it seems.</string>
<stringname="ZN3QD4Ks">I'll tell you. I'll tell anyone who listens.</string>
<stringname="ZOVdtwbw">So, you want to know about the games that Fate has played with me?</string>
<stringname="ZoxPPYLX">I thought of going home. But I lost what denars I had saved during the riots. If there is a warband looking for good men, I would like to earn it back.</string>
<stringname="ZqWHeJ9B">Envy, yes, the only possible explanation for why your clan drove you out. Such a terrible sin!</string>
<stringname="ZRQIdapZ">I am a horsethief. I come from a region where to be a horsethief is an honorable profession, and I am very good at it. But it is dangerous work, as owners can be vindictive people, and I am seeking safer work - as a mercenary, perhaps.</string>
<stringname="ZSaGzgmN">My father was a judge, and I had intended to study the legal rulings of the past, so I could follow in his footsteps. But when I went to study, my master told me that only two kinds of scholars were needed these days: those who knew how to build and knock down walls, and those who knew how to stem the epidemics that spread from unburied bodies.</string>
<stringname="zTNhw5T6">I'm from a town near here. I won't say which one... Our family were protectors of our alley, and by that I mean that I thumped the head of anyone who tried to take away our rights. But the guard captain, he kept coming around demanding money and favors, and I couldn't thump his head. So now I'm looking for new work.</string>
<stringname="Zu4uBSxk">We Sturgians have a tradition. If two people have a dispute, and there's no witnesses, so it all comes down to one man's word against another's, then we let them settle it with swords. If one man doesn't like to fight, he can hire someone else to do the fighting. That's how it works with us. Probably other people do the same, because it's a good tradition.</string>
<stringname="ZuHolx2r">Professionally, it was perhaps the best thing I could have done. Fevers, injuries, festering sores - the seaman has in greater number and variety than any manner of land-dweller, I imagine. But I have little patience for life aboard, the monotony, the tyranny of captains, the lack of any space to oneself, the groaning of timbers, the constant smell of rotting bilge...</string>
<stringname="zwKDTWd5">But the old lord died, alas, and when my birthday came, his heir laughed at me. He told me that a fine horse would be wasted on me; perhaps I would like a goat. So that night I took the best animal in the stable, and rode off.</string>
<stringname="zX3hVUKI">It sounds like you had no choice.</string>
<stringname="zXJvWvD5">I'm a warrior. A soldier of fortune, you might say. A damn good one, too, as my enemies would tell you if they could speak from the other world.</string>
<stringname="zZfHxtS5">Honor must come first!</string>
<stringname="7poObaCF">Yes, they needed a strong king, like a herd of cattle on a mountain trail needs a herdsman who knows the trail. Herds in the mountains, you see... Sometimes the stubborn old bulls, set in their ways, wander off the trail and lead the others toward a precipice.</string>
<stringname="8faAcjLz">Echerion the Tyrant-Slayer was my ancestor. Wouldn't be right if I fought for an upstart demagogue like Garios or a half-foreign adventuress like Rhagaea, now would it?</string>
<stringname="91wurGIB">My family? I was adopted by the fen Gruffendoc but really, I have no family. I was sent directly by the Heavens as a gift to the Battanians. They didn't know it, but they needed a strong king.</string>
<stringname="9f11AsTw">My people are the people of the hills. Up here, we watch out for each other. Your life and wealth depend on your neighbors spottmming a Battanian raiding party coming your way. My people like Garios. They trust him. I'm not going to spill their blood fighting for anyone else.</string>
<stringname="9f11AsTw">My people are the people of the hills. Up here, we watch out for each other. Your life and wealth depend on your neighbors spotting a Battanian raiding party coming your way. My people like Garios. They trust him. I'm not going to spill their blood fighting for anyone else.</string>
<stringname="aifXT4E1">My grandfather did save the boyars, and ever since, their thankless heirs have tried to weasel out of that oath. They like to quarrel, and take what they want, and care nothing for the realm.</string>
<stringname="aRlW5rks">The Heavens know I loved Arenicos. I shed my blood for him. But his dream of peace with our neighbors was moonshine. You can have war on the frontiers or war at home. I prefer war on the frontiers. Let the men earn glory, gold, and tales to tell their grandchildren.</string>
<stringname="bFZrLY8W">My class was taught how to rule, and rule we should. But one of our number should always be above the others. Put us together in a Senate, as Lucon wants, and we will always quarrel and fight. Let an emperor or empress rule in the capital, and let their children succeed them, without any fuss. We shall give them a peaceful and prosperous countryside.</string>
<stringname="0Wg00sfN">Thank you, {?PLAYER.GENDER}madam{?}sir{\\?}. We will be moving immediately.</string>
<stringname="0WgYomR5">Thank you. I cannot guarantee I'd do the same for you, but I thank you.</string>
<stringname="0WTPOUKM">What? You treacherous… Well, {?PLAYER.GENDER}lady{?}sir{\\?} you have made yourself an enemy.</string>
<stringname="0wTZx8EC">You don't seem trustworthy. I have no interest in your offer.</string>
<stringname="0xnRstRX">I do so swear, {LORD.LINK}.</string>
<stringname="0YIdXQFU">May the Heavens protect and guide you.</string>
<stringname="0YJGvJ7o">You should leave now.</string>
...
...
@@ -141,6 +142,7 @@
<stringname="6oevXUSa">Let it be known that from this day forward, you are my sworn {?PLAYER.GENDER}follower{?}man{\\?} and vassal. I give you my protection and grant you the right to bear arms in my name, and I pledge that I shall not deprive you of your life, liberty or properties except by the lawful judgment of your peers or by the law and custom of the land.</string>
<stringname="6OmbzoBs">{ISSUE_GIVER.LINK} a merchant from {ISSUE_GIVER_SETTLEMENT} has told you that {?ISSUE_GIVER.GENDER}her{?}his{\\?} daughter has gone missing. {?ISSUE_GIVER.GENDER}She{?}He{\\?} offers a bounty of {BASE_REWARD_GOLD}{GOLD_ICON} to anyone who finds her and brings her back. You choose {COMPANION.LINK} and {REQUIRED_TROOP_AMOUNT} men to search for her and bring her back. You expect them to return in {ALTERNATIVE_SOLUTION_DAYS} days with the news of success.</string>
<stringname="6P1ruzsC">Maybe...</string>
<stringname="6po3wjFa">Okay. I hope you will not regret this.</string>
<stringname="6Q4cPOSG">Yes, we will.</string>
<stringname="6SppoTum">Yes? What do you want?[rb:positive]</string>
<stringname="aHGbTpLp">Tell me how tournaments work.</string>
<stringname="aHjUgEur">I own {BUSINESS_LIST} here.</string>
<stringname="aI0vbad8">Stealing is not for us. Don't do anything about that!</string>
<stringname="aIbR4Nr3">Sure, but first you will need to pay me and my men {GOLD_AMOUNT} denars for our efforts.</string>
<stringname="aJqSItFZ">You don't have any companions with {ROGUERY_SKILL} skill higher than {REQUIRED_SKILL_LEVEL} to assign for this quest!</string>
<stringname="ajSm2FEU">I know spies are hard to catch but I tasked this to you for a reason. Do not let me down {PLAYER.NAME}.</string>
<stringname="ak2EMWWR">You failed to bring the daughter back to her {?QUEST_GIVER.GENDER}mother{?}father{\\?} as promised to {QUEST_GIVER.LINK}. {QUEST_GIVER.LINK} is furious</string>
...
...
@@ -389,6 +392,7 @@
<stringname="ddEu5IFQ">I hope so.</string>
<stringname="ddhr2Xa3">I don't care. Yield or fight!</string>
<stringname="DeoalRXY">One of {NOTABLE.FIRSTNAME}'s hunting hounds took down my cousin's sheep, but {NOTABLE.FIRSTNAME} paid twice the beast's value in compensation -- very fair, I say, very fair indeed.</string>
<stringname="dfEi6GSE">We will fight for you, if you can pay us {GOLD_AMOUNT} denars in exchange for every influence we gain for you.</string>
<stringname="Dga7sQOu">I no longer need you as Surgeon.</string>
<stringname="DGKgQycl">Greetings. How can I help you?</string>
<stringname="dgNCuuUL">Hello, {PLAYER.NAME}. Good to see you again.</string>
...
...
@@ -521,6 +525,7 @@
<stringname="g8qb3Ame">Thank you.</string>
<stringname="GAq7KAf0">You bet! Say, you look like a fighter. You should join. Back in the old days it was all condemned criminals and fights to the death, but nowadays they use blunted weapons.</string>
<stringname="GAsVO8cZ">Good day, friend. I'll bet you came here for the games, or as they say nowadays, the tournament!</string>
<stringname="hJ1SFkmq">You managed to find the spy but lost the duel. {QUEST_GIVER.LINK} is disappointed.</string>
<stringname="hmmoXy0E">Whose workshop is this?</string>
<stringname="hnSFjIkM">As you wish. Your enemies are my enemies.</string>
<stringname="HOMeZ9bB">Let me think about it.</string>
<stringname="HpWYfcgw">..and to uphold your rights under the laws of the Sturgians, and the rights of your kin, and to avenge their blood as thought it were my own.</string>
<stringname="hsYgcbaI">You've cleared some members of a gang off of a territory that they claim. Do you want to stay here to make sure the others don't try to take it back?</string>
<stringname="Ht3S4nvm">Let's do some diagnostics about your faction.</string>
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...
@@ -680,7 +686,6 @@
<stringname="KQ3aYvp3">Some day you’ll see I did you a favor. Pack up, we need to go.</string>
<stringname="kq9nFrjI">Did you bring my girl?</string>
<stringname="kqDvS5Vz">Now, it grieves us to do this, but we have mouths to feed and we're going to have ask you to pay for passage through our lands. If you refuse, we'll have no choice but to take your money by force.</string>
<stringname="KQXOmLh6">This is a generic backstory</string>
<stringname="KtrZs3yA">Certainly! The arena is open to anyone who doesn't mind hard knocks. Looks like a few of our lads are warming up now. You can go and hop in if you want to. Or come back later when there's a tournament.[ib:warrior][rb:very_positive]</string>
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...
@@ -758,6 +763,7 @@
<stringname="MlTofjrU">And how would you serve us?</string>
<stringname="MLyBN51z">Round is over, your team is disqualified from the tournament.</string>
<stringname="MN2v1AZQ">I hate you! You killed him! I can’t believe it!. I will hate you with all my heart till my dying days. </string>
<stringname="MnluqvyE">I do not care to talk about my past.</string>
<stringname="mo4rbYvm">A couple of powerful wolves against a flock of helpless sheep. {GAME_NAME} is a game of uneven odds and seemingly all-powerful adversaries. But through strategy and sacrifice, even the sheep can dominate the wolves.</string>
<stringname="MqIg6Mh2">I swear homage to you as lawful {FACTION_TITLE}.</string>
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...
@@ -852,6 +858,7 @@
<stringname="P7aRBg2h">Thank the heavens we have {?NOTABLE.GENDER}women{?}men{\\?} like {NOTABLE.LINK} to help the poor in these hard times.</string>
<stringname="P98iCLjl">Get out of my face you vile beggar.[rb:negative]</string>
<stringname="P99OLPWU">Excuse me, {?PLAYER.GENDER}madam{?}sir{\\?}, but I must shortly go about my business. Is there anything you need?</string>
<stringname="pBb6sevv">It is enough to say that I am looking for a new employer, and I will serve loyally so long as I am treated well and paid well.</string>
<stringname="PbDK3PIi">Can I change the amount we're betting?</string>
<stringname="PDhmSieV">{QUEST_GIVER.NAME}'s Kidnapped Daughter at {SETTLEMENT}</string>
<stringname="PdKIXiFa">Forgive me, {LORD.LINK}, I must give the matter more thought first...</string>
...
...
@@ -1011,7 +1018,6 @@
<stringname="tsjwrZCZ">I am sure that, as {?PLAYER.GENDER}lady{?}lord{\\?} of this district, you will not let these unlawful threats go unpunished. As the lord of the region, you can talk to {TARGET_NOTABLE.NAME} and force him to accept the blood money.</string>
<stringname="tTKpOFRK">You won the duel but your opponent was innocent. {QUEST_GIVER.LINK} is disappointed.</string>
<stringname="TTkVcObg">What choice do I have you heartless bastard![rb:very_negative]</string>
<stringname="TtLzpduL">We can be your mercenary for {GOLD_AMOUNT} denars of payment per influence.</string>
<stringname="tuaQ5uU3">I guess the only way to free you from this pretty boy’s spell is to kill him.</string>
<stringname="tuz8ZNT6">I wish to form a caravan in this town.</string>
<stringname="tVb0nWxm">War is all about sacrifice. In {GAME_NAME} you must make sure that your opponent sacrifices more than you do. Every move can expose you or your opponent and must be carefully considered.</string>
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...
@@ -1067,6 +1073,8 @@
<stringname="VH27tpkT">It's quite the opportunity to make your name. You risk no more than your teeth, and didn't the Heavens give us thirty of those, just to have a few spare for grand opportunities like this?</string>
<stringname="vHKkVkAF">You have fought well. You are free to go.</string>
<stringname="VHuIdRYU">An enemy has seen you!</string>
<stringname="VIztLFNQ">You need to discuss this with our leader {LEADER.LINK}.</string>
<stringname="VJbQNVDu">You don't deserve my coin. This contract is over.</string>
<stringname="vjk2q3OT">{?PLAYER.GENDER}Madam{?}Sir{\\?}, {TARGET_NOTABLE.NAME}'s nephew murdered one of my kinsman, and it is our right to take vengeance on the murderer. Custom gives us the right of vengeance. Everyone must know that we are willing to avenge our sons, or others will think little of killing them. Does it do us good to be a clan of old men and women, drowning in silver, if all our sons are slain? Please sir, allow us to take vengeance. We promise we won't let this turn into a senseless blood feud.</string>
<stringname="vjOkDM6C">If you defend a murderer than you die like a murderer. Boys, kill them all!</string>
<stringname="VLgqVpT1">Hey you. {ALLEY_BOSS.NAME} knows you, right? That's good, but I'm still going to need to ask you your business around here.</string>
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...
@@ -1127,6 +1135,7 @@
<stringname="x9VgLEzi">Yes… I’ve suffered a great misfortune. My daughter, a headstrong girl, has been bewitched by this never-do-well. I told her to stop seeing him but she wouldn’t listen!. Now she’s missing - I’m sure she’s been abducted by him!. I’m offering a bounty of {BASE_REWARD_GOLD}{GOLD_ICON} to anyone who brings her back. Please {?PLAYER.GENDER}ma'am{?}sir{\\?}! Don’t let a father’s heart be broken.</string>
<stringname="xatWDriV">Never mind then.</string>
<stringname="xb1Ps6ZC">Now get lost...</string>
<stringname="xbFa2L9A">We will not forget this.</string>
<stringname="XbnhxZbo">{PLAYER.NAME}.. Is that you? Am I free?</string>
<stringname="xCjCHRcS">As you wish. I hereby declare your oaths to be null and void. You will no longer hold land or titles in my name, and you are released from your duties to my house. You are free, {PLAYER.NAME}.</string>
<stringname="xCy5AXrz">I'll have your head on a pike for this, you bastard! Someday![if:idle_angry][rb:very_negative][ib:agressive]</string>
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...
@@ -1146,6 +1155,7 @@
<stringname="Xo5lc6sz">If you've got more mouths in your house than your land will feed, {NOTABLE.FIRSTNAME} will let you work a bit of {?NOTABLE.GENDER}her{?}his{\\?} property - but he'll take a third of your harvest, even if you're kin.</string>
<stringname="XoftWx6z">I don't think I owe you such a favor {PLAYER.NAME}. I see no reason to accept this for you.[rb:negative]</string>
<stringname="xoJfnk6m">Walk the path of righteousness.</string>
<stringname="xOrwhUVJ">I want to end our contract.</string>
<stringname="xP8cKZFE">They say the merchant {NOTABLE.LINK} is hiring at {?NOTABLE.GENDER}her{?}his{\\?} {SHOP_TYPE}. {?NOTABLE.GENDER}She{?}He{\\?}'s a harsh master but a fair one, they say.</string>
<stringname="xpafjLhC">My dear {PLAYER.NAME}, your generous gift has led me to reconsider what you ask, and I have come to appreciate the wisdom of your proposal.</string>
<stringname="Xpekpwby">Barter line - player should not see this</string>
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...
@@ -1215,6 +1225,7 @@
<stringname="ZCbQvqqv">An unscarred face is usual for farmers and merchants but less so for warriors. This might be useful.</string>
<stringname="zcf9M1Qh">Very well... You may go.</string>
<stringname="ZEwHT9LE">I want to bet on myself!</string>
<stringname="zFAkHQRH">I am ready to pay my debt.</string>
<stringname="zG5jo0bJ">Yes, have you made any progress on it?</string>
<stringname="ZhCRL9mY">All those bastards walking around drunk and bothering folks.. But they work for {NOTABLE.LINK} and you can't say a thing if you value your head.</string>
<stringname="zJVb2aCe">Farewell, {PLAYER.NAME}. I regret that we part on these terms.</string>
<stringname="3FvGk8k6">Your settlement {SETTLEMENT} is besieged by {PARTY} of {FACTION}!</string>
<stringname="3gbgjJfZ">Candidly, what do you think of your liege, {FIRST_NAME}?</string>
<stringname="3gXc2ZzJ">You need a wilder past</string>
<stringname="3IBVEOwh">I still think we may not be ready yet.</string>
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@@ -200,6 +201,7 @@
<stringname="3SBDbPjD">Good to hear that! Safe journeys.</string>
<stringname="3skTM1DC">Most people would put a knife in your back for a few coppers. Have a few friends and keep them close, I guess.</string>
<stringname="3sRdGQou">Leave</string>
<stringname="3TmLIou4">Alive</string>
<stringname="3tzaxDI6">Every villager party entering your town generates 10 gold income</string>
<stringname="3UDUqYv1">Scout Perks</string>
<stringname="3UprB5ID">{NAME} the Brilliant</string>
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...
@@ -263,7 +265,7 @@
<stringname="5Adr6toM">{MENU_TEXT}</string>
<stringname="5ao0RdRT">Well, I do not deny that there is something about you to which I am drawn.</string>
<stringname="5AvvGkk4">I'm sure what you did was an honest mistake, but there are laws. Hand over the contraband to me, and this will be the end of it.</string>
<stringname="5axKTUpX">Forests give 10% less speed penalty to parties</string>
<stringname="5axKTUpX">Forests give 10% less speed penalty to parties.</string>
<stringname="5B6WPxeu">{CHAR_NAME}</string>
<stringname="5bSWSaPl">Footmen on horses</string>
<stringname="5cH6ssDI">mercenary company</string>
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...
@@ -501,7 +503,7 @@
<stringname="A0UCmgaY">{NAME} Bluebeard</string>
<stringname="a0UTO8tW">{ISSUE_OWNER.LINK}, the headman of {ISSUE_SETTLEMENT}, asked you to deliver {GRAIN_AMOUNT} bushels of grain to {?QUEST_GIVER.GENDER}her{?}him{\\?} to use as seeds. Otherwise the peasants cannot sow their fields and starve in the coming season. You have agreed to send your companion {COMPANION.NAME} along with {MEN_COUNT} men to find some grain and return to the village. Your men should return in {RETURN_DAYS} days.</string>
<stringname="A1LHEGX4">Ice Breaker</string>
<stringname="a1n2zCaD">Exactly do you wish from me.</string>
<stringname="a1n2zCaD">What exactly do you wish from me?</string>
<stringname="a2AO5T1Q">{CLAN_NAME} has ended its mercenary contract with {KINGDOM_NAME}.</string>
<stringname="a2dJDUoL">My sword is my dowry. The gold and land will follow.</string>
<stringname="a37zTVVe">Believe me, I'll be generous to those who came to me early. Perhaps not as generous to those who came late.</string>
...
...
@@ -604,6 +606,7 @@
<stringname="arl0erDp">Of course, of course... Never mind what they say about the rats, by the way -- I've never actually seen one myself, on account of the pitch-black darkness. Anyway, I'm sure that {s5} will understand why it's important for you to control expenditures. Now... Was there anything else?</string>
<stringname="ARNYrXln">{TROOP.NAME} has claimed {SIDE1_PARTY} currently held by the {SIDE2_FACTION}</string>
<stringname="arpa1LzL">Your troops have +1 throwing weapon ammunition.</string>
<stringname="aSniKUJv">High Loyalty</string>
<stringname="ASOW1MuQ">Your settlement {SETTLEMENT} is under attack by {PARTY} of {FACTION}!</string>
<stringname="AT6v10NK">Attribute</string>
<stringname="aTeuX4L0">Regular</string>
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...
@@ -654,7 +657,7 @@
<stringname="b5Ucatkb">Tell me about your journeys. What news of the markets?</string>
<stringname="B5UMlqHc">I'll be honest... We don't want to die. Would you take us on as hired fighters? That way everyone gets what they want.</string>
<stringname="b6MgRYlM">This decision was rejected by the support of the council.</string>
<stringname="b6naGx6H">Don’t worry. I’ll rid you of those poachers.</string>
<stringname="b6naGx6H">I'll rid you of those poachers myself.</string>
<stringname="b6Spbd9O">{VICTIM.LINK} has been executed by {KILLER.LINK}.</string>
<stringname="b7APCGY2">Talk to other members</string>
<stringname="b7c5Q3BY">Character can refine two units of fine steel into one unit of Thamaskene steel, and one unit of crude iron as by-product.</string>
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...
@@ -994,6 +997,7 @@
<stringname="DWDGHnzs">{FIRST_NAME} of the Gate</string>
<stringname="dwtIc9AG">Experienced Smith</string>
<stringname="dx0hmeH6">Tracking</string>
<stringname="DXczLzml">Status</string>
<stringname="DxGecvb6">What happened to the rest? Well, in any case it is better than nothing, I suppose.</string>
<stringname="dXk7LOkb">Slaughter</string>
<stringname="DxVKumDj">Two extra thrown weapons per pack</string>
...
...
@@ -1016,7 +1020,6 @@
<stringname="EaifHOao">Yes, {?PLAYER.GENDER}my lady{?}sir{\\?}, I will.</string>
<stringname="eALf5d30">Thanks!</string>
<stringname="EaPQ2mm7">One thing - if possible, try not to get them all killed, will you? Green troops aren't much use to me, but corpses are even less.</string>
<stringname="Eaq23Rez">Feat Bonus</string>
<stringname="eaQxeRh6">A boy runs out of the village and asks you to talk to the leader of the poachers. The villagers want to avoid a fight outside their homes.</string>
<stringname="eaSlwKRY">Additional size from extra prisoner cheat</string>
<stringname="eAzwpqE1">Force peasants to give you supplies</string>
...
...
@@ -1231,7 +1234,6 @@
<stringname="gBcb92pJ">{FIRST_NAME} the Slicer</string>
<stringname="gbHKGRr5">You have received a message and a purse from {QUEST_GIVER.LINK}. The missive reads: ”The herd arrived. Some were lost, but we made enough money to get by. Thank you, and please accept these {REWARD}{GOLD_ICON} with our gratitude.”.</string>
<stringname="gBSEXHGi">{NAME} the Traitor</string>
<stringname="gCaT2BTu">{PRISONER.NAME} has been released from captivity following a peace treaty</string>
<stringname="GCH6RgIQ">How though are they?</string>
...
...
@@ -1699,7 +1701,7 @@
<stringname="L9n6yu1X">The influence cost of creating an army is reduced by 30% for the ruler\nArmies led by the ruler earn cohesion at 30% less cost\nArmies led by non-ruler nobles cost 10% more influence to create</string>
<stringname="l9sFJawW">Go to the tavern district</string>
<stringname="l9wYpIuV">Any news? Have you managed to clear out the hideout yet?</string>
<stringname="lA14Ubal">I’ll rid you of those poachers myself.</string>
<stringname="lA14Ubal">I can send a companion to hunt these poachers.</string>
<stringname="lay7hKUK">I insist that my {?PLAYER.GENDER}wife{?}husband{\\?} conduct {?PLAYER.GENDER}herself{?}himself{\\?} according to the highest standards.</string>
...
...
@@ -1977,7 +1979,6 @@
<stringname="oAaKaXEy">I really like this meal. I'd like it served to all my men.</string>
<stringname="oAb4NqO5">Male</string>
<stringname="obHhAi60">You don't have any companions with riding skill higher than {REQUIRED_SKILL_LEVEL} to this mission!</string>
<stringname="obiKXPPW">Governor Bonus</string>
<stringname="Obk7j3ai">Here it is. Now let us pass</string>
<stringname="obVZqyjo">{NAME} the Trader</string>
<stringname="ObwbbEqE">Siege Medic</string>
...
...
@@ -2244,6 +2245,7 @@
<stringname="QUn2ugIX">Thank you. Here's your pay.</string>
<stringname="UUN43F43">{FIRST_NAME} the Goat</string>
<stringname="UuSstgt8">This village has no goods to take.</string>
<stringname="uvjOVy5P">Dead</string>
<stringname="UW1roOES">You should discuss this issue with {REDIRECT_HERO_RELATIONSHIP}, who speaks for our family.</string>
<stringname="uW7jNpaT">Concealed Blade</string>
<stringname="UwEbBanm">These are the laws of our town. The artisans don't complain when the laws require us to buy tools from them.</string>
...
...
@@ -2659,7 +2663,7 @@
<stringname="vaBYdaSH">You need to be wealthier</string>
<stringname="vaISh0sx">I will go off to make something of myself, then, and shall return to you.</string>
<stringname="VawDQKLl">Lime Kilns</string>
<stringname="vaZDJGMx">Construction From Market</string>
<stringname="vaZDJGMx">Construction from Market</string>
<stringname="Vb9IhkIZ">{FIRST_NAME} of the Dawn</string>
<stringname="vbbc6sIU">I regret to tell you that my progress under your tutelage is not satisfactory. I should return to my clan to resume my studies. Thank you for your trouble anyway.</string>
<stringname="vbiA31xT">Deserter extortion at {SETTLEMENT}</string>
...
...
@@ -2770,6 +2774,7 @@
<stringname="W6ebB306">people</string>
<stringname="W6XMWJ8R">Castle Charters</string>
<stringname="W73My5KO">Death</string>
<stringname="w8Yzf0F0">Destroyed</string>
<stringname="W99amzpt">{NAME} the Fool</string>
<stringname="w9olmhv0">It is time to declare war</string>
<stringname="WACam22Q">For The Thrill</string>
...
...
@@ -3026,6 +3031,7 @@
<stringname="YQ3vm6er">Enter the arena</string>
<stringname="yqPNKKGb">Farsighted</string>
<stringname="yQtzabbe">Close</string>
<stringname="YRbSBxqT">Not Destroyed</string>
<stringname="yRlINUML">Hah! I'll see you beg for mercy.</string>
<stringname="YRN4RBeI">Very well, madame, but I would have you know.... I intend to marry someone of my own rank.</string>
<stringname="yrPEqZEa">Any other way?</string>
...
...
@@ -3054,6 +3060,7 @@
<stringname="YWu5Xfgz">I don't feel you're taking my complaint seriously.</string>
<stringname="ywUGYbRT">Cunning {NAME}</string>
<stringname="yWXtcxqb">Construct housing so that more folks can settle, increasing population.</string>
<stringname="yX1RycON">Boost from Reserve</string>
<stringname="yXb8bphB">Nobles are expected to raise sizable retinues.</string>
<stringname="YXbKXUDu">{ISSUEGIVER.LINK}, a merchant from {SETTLEMENT}, has told you about {?ISSUEGIVER.GENDER}her{?}his{\\?} recent problems with bandits. {?ISSUEGIVER.GENDER}She{?}he{\\?} asked you to guard {?ISSUEGIVER.GENDER}her{?}his{\\?} caravan for a while and deal with any attackers. {newline}You have agreed to guard it yourself until it visits {NUMBER_OF_SETTLEMENTS} settlements.</string>
<stringname="YXCGUSYd">Mm. Well, you'd make a very unusual match. But, well, I won't rule it out.</string>
<stringname="zKhvUmeH">{?TARGET_HERO.GENDER}She{?}He{\\?} is {TARGET_HERO.NAME} from {TARGET_HERO.CLAN}. I want {?TARGET_HERO.GENDER}her{?}him{\\?} brought to me, so I can settle this score once and for all. I have a {BASE_REWARD}{GOLD_ICON} that I am told is worth a king's ransom. I will give it away who brings {?TARGET_HERO.GENDER}her{?}him{\\?} back alive to me within a year.</string>
<stringname="zliqo1Y8">{?PLAYER.GENDER}Madam{?}Sir{\\?}, I will pay double whatever {?QUEST_GIVER.GENDER}she{?}he{\\?} promised to release me. Believe me, you don't want a reputation as {?QUEST_GIVER.GENDER}her{?}his{\\?} kidnapper-for-hire.</string>
<stringname="0FHF0OXK">I'm a surgeon. I trained at the imperial academy in {IMPERIALCAPITAL}. I had many rich and influential patients in the town. I thought I was well shielded from the intrigues and dangers of the Empire. </string>
<stringname="0reAi03W">I was a cowherd. In most villages, this is a boy's job, because one must be alone in the hills. In our village there were few boys, and I was a good shot with a sling, good at keeping the wolves away.</string>
<stringname="0SnKUaex">No doubt a sad state of affairs. So what do you do?</string>
<stringname="0ttlPDSr">My family was in a feud. Over stolen cattle, as is often the case in the upcountry. Well, the family we fought turned out to be rather stronger than us, and most of us were killed. The rest were scattered. I lived for a while as a thief, stealing to eat, but that is a bitter path, and now I am looking for something better.</string>
<stringname="0ty7hiZI"> I've been in a lot of fights and I've killed a lot of people. Ask you around - you shouldn't just take my word for it. But never one who didn't deserve it, and never once outside a fair fight.</string>
<stringname="12lOrxfb">The boys of the neighboring village would pester me. One of them, the chief's son, would not leave me alone. They wanted from me what all boys want. One day he came up behind me and tried to take me by force. But I had a knife... </string>
<stringname="157MgVWG">They say I stole a horse. Indeed, I was riding a fine horse through the streets here, and Karakhuzait are supposed to be poor. I paid for it in silver, but man who sold it to me - a dog, an Arkit - seems to want both his horse and the silver. So it is my word against his.</string>
<stringname="1Gr3wo1m">I was a smith. As you can see I'm a big fellow, strong... I was good at my job. Had a nice shop on the high street through my town. Saved a bit of money and thought about finding a girl to wed.</string>
<stringname="1gXv1YlG">If the choice I had been mine, I would have never hurt anyone. I would live on my land, eat what I had grown, marry and have children. But the Heavens have decreed that I should eat by shedding other men's blood. In the city, rich men pay me well for that.</string>
<stringname="1paC3mV1">Yes. Too many men on both sides of the law prey on the weak.</string>
...
...
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
<stringname="26RU4ZRj">Wait... This famous stand you're describing. It was against your own side?</string>
<stringname="28RfiykG">Every day, I give thanks to the Heavens that I was not born a savage.</string>
<stringname="2BKMNXE7">I fought three battles under the banner of the Sultan, and two more under the banners of the Qild. No more.</string>
<stringname="2mOdY5gW">I was in the Vaegir guard in the time of Arenicos. We took our discipline seriously; we were proud of it. Then the riots happened. What I saw in {IMPERIALCAPITAL}.. Even now it makes me feel ashamed.</string>
<stringname="2cdYmeeq">My father was a robber and a murderer. We preyed on drunks and travellers outside the caravanserais, mostly, only knifing them when we needed to. But the guards caught up with my father, eventually. He had enough silver stored away to pay the bribes to save one of us. He was hanged, I fled.</string>
<stringname="2PZsQPty">I will tell you my story. I haven't... I haven't spoken of this before, to anyone. Perhaps it's the wine here. But know that if you speak of this to anyone else, I'll cut your tongue out.</string>
<stringname="2rX8VwCj">I'll tell you my story. Why not?</string>
<stringname="2VTD9b4L">As it happened, my neighbors needed to supply an armed man for the king's levy. None of them wished to go, so I offered to stand in for them. They bought me a sword, jerkin and horse, and thus I became a warrior.</string>
...
...
@@ -40,26 +40,29 @@
<stringname="4rC9tzki">I don't begrudge a warrior a few drinks and a fight from time to time.</string>
<stringname="4u5YQtKn">Hard to blame you for that, I suppose.</string>
<stringname="4UMf7HDe">You may call it pride, but I do not wish to enlist as a foot soldier. So I work here in town, for merchants, for pay, a hired sword. All I can say is that I hope one day to purchase the land I need to serve our emperor, whoever sits in the throne, as my father did.</string>
<stringname="4v369XQ3">Sure - I'll tell you how I wound up in here. Nothing to lose, really, what with them outside erecting the gallows for me.</string>
<stringname="548o0GKu">I could return to my people, I suppose, but I have no wish to do so. So I am here, in the towns, where I can make good money with my sword and care nothing about those who envy me.</string>
<stringname="56VPnxQd">You're a nosy one, I see.</string>
<stringname="587q6IS6">Very nice. You sound destined for the scaffold, so you might as well enjoy a hot meal or two.</string>
<stringname="5d6Xifm1">Master of empty talk, rather.</string>
<stringname="5Fp7d2cV">Sounds like justice served.</string>
<stringname="5h5bHA4o">They were and they weren't, you might say. Dozens of bands, dozens of chiefs. Some wanted to be more than bandits, to try to treat the poor decently, and some were happy being bandits. We needed to eat, so most of the time the bandits won out. But there was one chief we had, he took things too far. Made peasants hand over not just their grain but their daughters. So I told him - Vatand was his name - what I thought of that.</string>
<stringname="5hBuA8kd">I was an spearman. I fought on foot. That's usually what you do if you're not from a big clan. Twice the risk, half the pay and none of the glory. Anyway, I'm done with that for now, looking for other work.</string>
<stringname="5mUCH99p">Suffice to say, I could not return to my father's house. I went on my way, happy to live the life of a warrior I had always dreamed of living. But soon I found out - the tales I loved as a girl, of shield-maidens who fought for honor, do not pertain to a woman with no family or land. One cannot fight for honor when one doesn't know where the next meal comes from. So I fight for pay.</string>
<stringname="5QpIypgB">Since you ask who I am, stranger, I will tell you.</string>
<stringname="5Z9SNzQw">The lords and the merchants, they sit in their lofty towers making grand decisions, but they don't see into the back alleys to know what plots are going on. They don't know where to find the debtor who won't pay his debt. They don't know where to find the wagging tongues starting rumors. So that's where I come in.</string>
<stringname="688YMH2y">I am Battanian by birth but I served in the legions. Many of us did. There is as much honor serving the Empire as any other master. But now the legions are no more.</string>
<stringname="6KUJ7cYt">Sure, I'll tell you my tale. Don't expect a happy one.</string>
<stringname="6NorKoWz">Well, before we begin, here's a flagon of ale to your health - both physical and spiritual.</string>
<stringname="6OF0vjQV">After Arenicos's so-called reforms, they try to maintain an army on the cheap, letting the rich run the show out of their own pocket. No wonder the whole thing's collapsed into a bunch of squabbling factions and we're mocked by the barbarians we used to rule.</string>
<stringname="6R8hkchs">That is all there is to say, really. I still have the sword, and it is for hire, to those who pay well. I'll do most whatever is needed. The world had no mercy on me, so I feel no need to show any.</string>
<stringname="7bX48G5w">I was raised in a well-known clan, but my father died and my stepfather cast me out. It is a common enough story among our people. You may find many of us wandering the roads, our swords our only inheritance.</string>
<stringname="7caHipXX">So I left. And a short while later the emperor sent a third detachment, bigger than the others, and that was the end of the Kingdom of Truth. My old comrades - I see them sometimes from time to time, some in a lord's retinue, others in a cage with R for 'robber' branded on their forehead.</string>
<stringname="7GpMPCMW">My clan was locked in a feud with another clan for years. One life of theirs, then one life of ours, year after year, decade after decade. But I chose to break the cycle. I left my family. I am not the first to do so. This happens among us, from time to time, though few speak of it.</string>
<stringname="7JMaPpkN">We built a great temple in the back country, out in the bush, called it the Kingdom of Truth. We whipped two imperial detachments sent to track us down. But Ladicos died, 'Called up to Heaven' he said on his deathbed, and then we lost our way a bit. We needed food and we needed money, so our chiefs started collecting 'taxes' from the villages below. Some started taking money from lords and merchants for protection of caravans. And those who grumbled - well, they started turning up dead in the dry streambeds.</string>
<stringname="7KUO2swN">He really did swing at me first - I think. I was drunk. I know you think I'm just saying that to save my neck, but it's true. And if a trial by combat affirms that I'm talking truth, than I can get off with a fine, and not swing for what I did.</string>
<stringname="7QFCINsI">Every time I've fought with a band of my 'countrymen,' I've told them: 'Hold your lines. Stay firm. Fight as the Empires does: as a solid hammer, not a gaggle of goats.' And every time I have seen them disintegrate into a screaming rush as soon as the arrows start flying, to dash themselves on the enemy's shields or be cut down by cavalry coming in on the sides.</string>
<stringname="7RyQGcbI">The trouble with prophecies... People remember the one that came true, never the ten that were false.</string>
<stringname="7TbLW9lr">I could tell you of all my deeds, and you'd never believe me. But you know, if you'd met me a year back, I could have taken you to my hall some time and shown you them. Shown you my deeds! You heard that! </string>
<stringname="7tCl75xJ">I was part of the old Emperor Arenicos's Vaegir Guard. But the people turned on us after his death, and attacked us. Maybe you've heard the story before. There's a whole lot of us, spat out into the world by the ungrateful Calradians.</string>
<stringname="7WspnHDJ">I rode with Monchug Khan for years. I should have had a place of honor in his hall. But I killed a man from a richer clan over an insult, and he had too many kinfolk for me to linger anymore.</string>
<stringname="836klxRM">You want to know about me? Well, that's a story, that's a story.</string>
<stringname="84coQmIJ">My family was not one of the greatest clans of the Battanians, but nor are we among the poorest. When I came of age, my family sent me to join the Wolfskins. You may have heard of this tradition - for three years we live in the woods and do not eat cooked meat, wear spun cloth, or sleep under a roof, and according to the law we are beasts, not bound by the laws of men.</string>
<stringname="8aEcRzM7">I will tell you. If you are a partisan of the Khan Urkhun and his brood, however, you may not like it.</string>
...
...
@@ -68,23 +71,22 @@
<stringname="8duSHfDa">Ah, yes. Wise words. Do go on.</string>
<stringname="8lGql3mA">I've fought for Ulus Khan, and for Monchug Khan, and even for the old Urkhun. But I fight on foot - my family's from the town, not the steppe. Life's a little different for us.</string>
<stringname="8lQ9IM8N">The women in our family passed down the art of healing from generation to generation, and other... em... services, that can be accomplished with herbs. But for all our skill we remained poor, while richly robed, well-fed men with half our skill walked about the towns tending to the lords and ladies.</string>
<stringname="8TabS6RW">I was a daughter of a wealthy clan. But our rivals drove us from our grazing grounds. We had to sell our herds. We were mocked in towns when we went to trade in the marketplace. Luckily my father was one of those wise enough to teach his daughters to fight. With the Heavens' help I will become wealthy and famous, and restore our family name.</string>
<stringname="8U01rj5f">When a victim turns thief, that does not right the world.</string>
<stringname="8xrIamsU">My first foray into war, we were pursued by a force of imperial cavalry twice our number. One man was needed to stay behind and hold a ford, so that the rest could escape. The others had families, so I chose to be that one, as I could think of none who would mourn me. </string>
<stringname="8zQ9UPvX">Some boys help their fathers sew crops. Some boys learn to herd sheep. Me, I spent my childhood learning to harvest the back alleys outside winehouses. My father taught me. He was a good teacher, if a cruel man.</string>
<stringname="902xqUja">A cavalier of the empire doing errands for traders! The shame of it!</string>
<stringname="9AIyvTmF">Well... I was soon disabused of this idea. A doctor starting out in the world must either have a great deal of money, or family that ensures him a long list of clients. I had neither. Instead of working in the city, I took service aboard a ship.</string>
<stringname="9bezXRLp">It did not matter much. I always preferred the woods. I made a better living shooting squirrels and rabbits and selling fur. </string>
<stringname="9cFEa5EB">My father was one of the men that Urkhun Khan had trained by captured imperial engineers. Our people knew little of siegecraft in those days. Well, he was not allowed to work for anyone but the Khan, or he would be killed in a very unpleasant way. But he taught me, his son, what he knew, and in this generation things are a little more lenient. So I can work for whom I please. </string>
<stringname="9EQxlFGK">A wise man, my father. But proud, and that was his undoing. A thief cannot be proud. We do not survive long without protection from the guards, and a new captain wanted to double the 'tax' my father paid. He refused, so they hanged him.</string>
<stringname="9jYj8jGg">Resentment is poison to an army. Men must learn to follow what orders they are given.</string>
<stringname="9KJdwiWV">Aye, well, that shows how far honest work gets you.</string>
<stringname="9vt4wew9">I am a conoisseur of horseflesh, my friend. No one knows horses better than I. But I find, alas, that often the best horses are wasted on unworthy owners, so I try to rectify that.</string>
<stringname="9xJrtdOG">Truth or not, a bit more penitence would be reassuring.</string>
<stringname="9YDjFZIU">Mmm... I do appreciate virtue, but villainy makes for a much spicier tale.</string>
<stringname="a1FYCbdy">Soon after I came of age, we got wind that our neighbors would raid us for cattle. We did not know by which road they would come. I was sent with a few of our tenants to hold a ford that was far out of the way.</string>
<stringname="A6WrXPQ6">So like I said: I can ride, swing a sword, manage a caravan, and I have good idea how to turn a profit. You know anyone looking to hire someone like that?</string>
<stringname="A9r6SnWx">Yes, it must be trying.</string>
<stringname="aBqj9o7e">I suppose that's an inspiring tale, in its way.</string>
<stringname="acRHDzXI">Oh of course. Every thief is falsely accused. It's a wonder things still get stolen.</string>
<stringname="aFs4JtDV">Eventually they demanded my father drive me out of the village. Because I was the fourth of four girls, it was no great loss for him to comply. Probably saved him worry over where he was going to find the money to marry me off. My mother screamed and wept, but her opinions were of no consequence.</string>
<stringname="Agbh1AmR">I have a gift... From the Heavens, perhaps, or perhaps from somewhere else. I have never met anyone I could not kill in a fair fight. But I do not like wars. Armies are full of crude men, boasters, drunks, rapists. I have another speciality.</string>
<stringname="agmuAXJc">How would I put it? I guess I'd say I'm a lady who's gotten a reputation for doing a man's work better then the men. I guess I'm a bit of a rarity. Although that's a bit of a surprise to me.</string>
...
...
@@ -92,10 +94,11 @@
<stringname="aIPLCDp7">Heavens protect us from evil! Away! Away!</string>
<stringname="Aj9ulUly">You're a cheerful one. Good day to you.</string>
<stringname="AlZlPv4b">Councils these days. Always making changes...</string>
<stringname="ammEPFoq">I'm a former imperial cataphract. Our skills, and our honor, needs no further introduction. But I was unable to afford my horse and armor, so I took work with merchants, as a hired sword.</string>
<stringname="AMMXrcC9">Indeed. Glory is as much a spoil of war as any, and should be shared.</string>
<stringname="aNSIajhR">I found a guardsman, alone and drunk. I have no idea whether he was one of the ones that set fire to our neighborhood. Maybe I should not have done to him what I did to him. But now I have his sword. It's been very useful.</string>
<stringname="aOSiXn2O">Well, I'm not averse to less dangerous work, if it pays well. No sense going to my grave too quickly, now that I've discovered the finer things in life. I do like the wine you get in the city, especially with a bit of bread and anchovy sauce.</string>
<stringname="APcr8rgq">I'll tell you. It's a bit of a long story - you may wish to get yourself a drink.</string>
<stringname="APcr8rgq">I'll tell you. You may wish to get yourself a drink.</string>
<stringname="Aqbu1o9v">Far back as I remember, I was living on the streets of {IMPERIALCAPITAL} with a bunch of other dirty, barefoot scrogs. A group of men in our alley, they called themselves the Centaurs, I guess they took a liking to me. Gave me special errands to run from them - started with picking pockets, ended with sticking knives into their enemies. Back then I'd do anything for a handful of figs and cheese and a pat on the head.</string>
<stringname="astXdbzl">The monastic calling is supposed to inspire us to live pure lives. It doesn't look good when people abandon it.</string>
<stringname="AT7pJ6Rm">It is not without some reluctance that I tell this story, for it hardly does honor to my name.</string>
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...
@@ -110,6 +113,7 @@
<stringname="aZOuFJ6H">Well, he did not believe in such things, so he laughed, tossed her a few coins, and sent her on her way. I grew up. When my first suitor was skewered by a spear in battle, I grieved, but thought little of it.</string>
<stringname="b0zmbTPQ">When all was done I'd have killed for an hour of another man's company, or a sip of wine, or a glimpse of a girl. So my sister and I, we came down to the valleys. She found a husband. I can get good work as a tracker. And that's all there is to it.</string>
<stringname="b1sCl4SI">So, anyway, I am forced to spend my time in taverns, taking whatever work can be found. I can oversee the building of most structures, or, if the need is there, I am also adept at knocking them down with catapults, rams, and mines.</string>
<stringname="b1Ucozvw">I was a farmer once. I killed a man in a fight and could not pay the blood money, so I had to flee. It's a common enough tale in the northlands. I accept that my destiny will be blood and hardship, rather than the simple life on the land I once craved.</string>
<stringname="b2UpIO43">I left the woods, but I spent enough time with the bandits to learn a bit of woodcraft. Now I help lords hunt them. If I must choose between two evils, I will work for the one that pays better. But I also have an outstanding debt with the landlord. Perhaps some day I will be able to settle it.</string>
<stringname="b3IzpFH2">Now, I'm looking around to see if there's anyone who might want to take me on. Especially if I might one day have a chance to rain rocks on the good people of {IMPERIALCAPITAL}, who killed my da.</string>
<stringname="B3UQTCRE">Refill my glass and I'll tell you.</string>
...
...
@@ -118,19 +122,24 @@
<stringname="bagbVij6">So, what you're saying is that you're a horsethief.</string>
<stringname="bDidH1Pu">It takes a vile man to do that work, and an even worse one to boast about it.</string>
<stringname="bE3LXxhw">Yeah... I can tell you all that.</string>
<stringname="BFVlgN2S">I was a monk. But I, like many others, wasn't especially suited to monastery life, and was expelled. No complaints there. The one good thing about monasteries, though - you learn a fair deal about herbs and medicine. So that's how I intend to make my income.</string>
<stringname="bhvZuX1m">A rather sad tale of deceit and disgrace.</string>
<stringname="BIsvfC0x">You too are a victim of the hideous power of the state.</string>
<stringname="BJSnI0tW">I ran with the Wolfskins, see? You may know our way - so long as we live as beasts, we're beyond the laws of man. But a few months ago I left my brothers in the woods and became a man again, which was a foolish thing to do.</string>
<stringname="bk3Ir2uC">Well... Even now I feel I made a wise choice to buy the pepper -- wise, but unlucky. Such is fortune! Had I not seized this opportunity, other merchants would have mocked me, a woman who lacked the daring to succeed in a man's trade. Instead they mock a rash woman who lacked a man's judgment. And here I am, looking for work.</string>
<stringname="bLZVseMd">I'm sure he'll be happy if you're happy.</string>
<stringname="bMHFQgVE">Aye, real honor is as scarce as hen's teeth these days.</string>
<stringname="bNUxoLhP">I don't know where I came from. First thing I remember is wandering the roads with a bunch of other orphans, going from village to village begging and stealing. But now, you see, I've stolen a sword from a group of bandits we found sleeping off a drunken night, and I figure maybe I can be something different.</string>
<stringname="bRE8iZqE">I had no father, see. None that I knew. There are scores of us in every town, begging and stealing and working for the gangs. But I was always the type of girl who wanted something more, and I got ahold of this sword, you see, and now I intend to turn other people's blood into silver.</string>
<stringname="BuamWVTp">Yes.. My story... Jealousy, envy of my talents. That's always been my undoing.</string>
<stringname="BVQ075W6">A sad tale. Please continue.</string>
<stringname="bwthhDSN">Right or wrong, I cannot blame you for your anger.</string>
<stringname="BxJA6fS5">Urkhun Khan decreed a generation ago that all the Khuzaits must settle, to be conscripted and taxed. We refused. His men took our flocks, and we have since lived like beggars on the edge of the towns. I have resolved to go out and earn the money we need to buy new flocks, and then we shall go again into the great grass, beyond the reach of any tyrant or khan.</string>
<stringname="bxKXHPp1">I served in the free companies. When I was young and foolish I loved it - the danger, the comraderie. But sometimes something you see turns your stomach. Something you saw a friend of yours do in a looted city. I will not speak of it. I need a new road to follow.</string>
<stringname="bYrgTQ3s">It sounds as though you had no choice.</string>
<stringname="bZ1qYeIa">I'm a former Wolfskin. No doubt you have heard of us. I am not proud of what I did as a Wolfskin. But I am proud of the woodcraft I learned.</string>
<stringname="C19gsGFY">Yes - many is the healer who has come to specialize in the diseases of the rich.</string>
<stringname="C5pqZtNs">I roam the desert. I learn its secret ways, its gifts, as a lover learns the secrets and gifts of his beloved. But though the desert is bountiful, horses and steel must be bought with silver. So, I must sell my services from time to time.</string>
<stringname="CA6Ew4EL">I wandered from village to village, begging and stealing. You may imagine how I fared at ther mercy of the robbers of the road, who had no more fear of the Evil Eye then they did of man's laws. But eventually I learned to protect myself, and the body of one careless bandit afforded me with my first sword and leather jerkin.</string>
<stringname="CA6Ew4EL">I wandered from village to village, begging and stealing. You may imagine how I fared at the mercy of the robbers of the road, who had no more fear of the Evil Eye then they did of man's laws. But eventually I learned to protect myself, and the body of one careless bandit afforded me with my first sword and leather jerkin.</string>
<stringname="CAiFXWEf">Yes... I can tell you my tale...</string>
<stringname="CE8we5VF">Oh, I'll tell you my story. I don't mind who knows.</string>
<stringname="cGr6RvX7">The starving do what they must.</string>
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@@ -145,11 +154,13 @@
<stringname="D7IINWEl">I can tell you my story, but I don't know how interesting you will find it.</string>
<stringname="d8aCwUJj">When I returned to my stepfather's hall, my mother met me outside, in tears. She had given me up for dead - my stepfather knew the direction from which the enemy clan would come, and had intended for me to die. She did nothing to stop him, but since I had survived, she bid me flee - for if not, she feared, it was inevitable that our clan should sink into the abyss of kinslaying. So here I am, looking for a worthy lord for whom to fight.</string>
<stringname="dCHCb1hb">The horse lords, the men of the great tribes - well they gallup here, and they gallup there, shooting this and shooting that. They win battles, I'll give them that. But at the end of the day, if the enemy's still laughing at you behind their walls, all that galluping means nothing.</string>
<stringname="dCHCb1hb">The horse lords, the men of the great tribes - well they gallop here, and they gallup there, shooting this and shooting that. They win battles, I'll give them that. But at the end of the day, if the enemy's still laughing at you behind their walls, all that galloping means nothing.</string>
<stringname="ddQAXhd6">One night I was walking home with my brother when we ran into a group working for one boss they called Big Tuna. Told us our crew had killed one of theirs, and they were going to kill one of ours in return. Took my brother, wrapped a heavy chain around his legs, and threw him into the water. I don't know why they let me live. </string>
<stringname="DFaMQXWH">We foot-sloggers, we're the ones who go up the ladder and into the meat grinder. Did that for 25 years, and I'm still getting less pay than some boy fresh of his mother's tit who happens to own a horse. Piss on that, I said, and I went looking for other work.</string>
<stringname="DFaMQXWH">We foot-sloggers, we're the ones who go up the ladder and into the meat grinder. Did that for 15 years, and I'm still getting less pay than some boy fresh of his mother's tit who happens to own a horse. Piss on that, I said, and I went looking for other work.</string>
<stringname="DFW5i63X">I'll tell you - what most people believe is a pack of lies. I was in the Vaegir guard in the time of Arenicos. We took our discipline seriously; we were proud of it. Then the riots happened. What I saw in {IMPERIALCAPITAL}.. Even now it makes me feel ashamed.</string>
<stringname="DHCTLcp1">So here I am. I know men like me can make money guarding merchants, doing other tasks such as that. As long as no one wants me to hurt the innocent... Some day, I hope to find a new place to set up a smithy and start again.</string>
<stringname="DhQ7lgNr">Indeed. No doubt such traditions encourages husbands to behave better than they might do otherwise.</string>
<stringname="DIaT6pXi">Aye, well, once I was a rebel up in the back country, but rebels never last too long. Now I just want to serve and get paid. You've been around. You've met men like me before, I'm sure.</string>
<stringname="dJxHX9si">The way I look at it, we all fulfil the will of the Heavens in our own way. So I do what I'm good at.</string>
<stringname="dKAun6OE">By the time I became a woman I was sick of filthy huts and puking babies. I came to the towns and inquired after which households, among those who had wealth, might have a patient for me. Of course when I showed up at the door in my torn, stained dress they slammed it in my face. </string>
<stringname="DMQSb5MX">Ah... Very well, I can satisfy your curiosity.</string>
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@@ -165,8 +176,7 @@
<stringname="ELXn5Nv5">My lineage is as ancient as it is noble, so of course when King Derthert called the muster of the vassals, I took my father's horse and mail and rode off to join it. This was in our war against the Empire, you see.</string>
<stringname="EMkaeD9M">Hmm. Many men would begin their story by reciting their ancestry. I will not do this. A man should be judged on his own deeds, and a long list of ancestors does him no credit. Also, my family does not acknowledge me, so why should I acknowledge them?</string>
<stringname="EQzHDnlS">At any rate, I'll fight for any man willing to take the same risks that his men face.</string>
<stringname="ErBHSq7A">I do not know if you are familiar with the ways of my people. I will try to explain.</string>
<stringname="ESfQXTiG">I'm here because men turn a blind eye to the clear word of the law. It's sad, sad.</string>
<stringname="ErBHSq7A">I am from one of the highland clans, in the far east. I do not know if you are familiar with their ways. I will try to explain.</string>
<stringname="EtfElSU3">I did not know what to do with his body. I buried it up in the hills, then told my parents. For fear of bloodshed, they told me to leave, to find my way in the world some other way.</string>
<stringname="f4kz9PyG">A fitting reward for a man who defied the order that the Heavens instituted on earth for our own good.</string>
<stringname="F81bgvec">Instead, for my fee, I'll make sure that those who need protecting are protected, and those who need to die are dead.</string>
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@@ -177,7 +187,6 @@
<stringname="fGhNWKgK">But with the wars, and a lot of people losing their land, things changed on the docks. Too many hands, and not enough cargos. Gangs from the back alleys started getting involved. If you didn't hire their people, maybe your ship would go up in flames.</string>
<stringname="Fgsd3jBn">You call that the cause of justice?</string>
<stringname="fGTeaCVU">My father was even a little prouder than most, I suppose. One day he was insulted by the lord's bailiff and he upped and left, moved us higher in the hills to be away from all other men. </string>
<stringname="fjeSk6KX">I was sent by my village as part of the levy to join King Derthert's army some years back. Well, I found that I liked war better than peace. Nights around the campfire after a hard fight, drinking wine with my brothers, not knowing if the morning brings death or a fortune... Can't do better than that. So when the army disbanded I went with a mate who joined the Free Company.</string>
<stringname="FjrLf4LE">Indeed. Good infantry is the backbone of an army.</string>
<stringname="fkbaYOGt">But I don't intend to live this way forever. There are a thousand paths to turning outlaw, you see, but they mostly come to a single end. So I'm here, in the town, looking for other work.</string>
<stringname="FMnIiXge">What woman wouldn't relish a husband smelling of half-cured skins, slept in for the whole winter?</string>
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@@ -193,11 +202,15 @@
<stringname="G7ZQb9tQ">Now some would say I should have avenged my mother. But there was a wrinkle, you see - we didn't talk about it much, but he was my father, as he was the father of so many other children of our alley. So I fled our town, and now work here, using the skills my dear parents taught me.</string>
<stringname="GCd02obf">Perhaps one should not press a courtship too far, when one is a bandit.</string>
<stringname="Gepa1szA">My father was a merchant. When he died, he left his children a small inheritance. Most went to my brothers. They headed east, to the lands of the Padishah, leaving me in charge of our interests in Calradia. For me to step into my father's shoes, and be treated as an equal by other merchants, I knew I had to make a lot of money in a short time or they would elbow me out of the market.</string>
<stringname="GLXrkZbW">I'm a soldier of the imperial legions. How we came to this sorry state is a sad tale that you've no doubt heard already from my comrades. But I'm sure you're familiar with our mettle in battle, and our skill at turning youths into soldiers.</string>
<stringname="gMiceyRl">Well, some day there may be peace, and money to build again.</string>
<stringname="Gnczyx1v">I feel no guilt - they were trying to kill me, and some came very close. I did what I needed to do.</string>
<stringname="gnLnZuAH">Let me tell you friend, I'm hard. I've fought with the Skolderbrotva, the Vaegirs, any mercenaries worth their salt, I've been with them. Others may tell you've they've done what I've done, but I'm the real thing.</string>
<stringname="gPpi8a8n">I too am proud. So, I cannot work as a thief. Now I am looking for work that doesn't require me to bend down to the whims of guards, dogs and turnkeys.</string>
<stringname="gqWMrx3S">But I've been thinking.. Maybe I want to marry. And I guess I need more silver for that, probably more than I can get from the squirrels. So... People tell me that warleaders will pay for a good scout. And I know the woods well.</string>
<stringname="gSXfbTn5">I know the woods well. I can move quickly in them. I'll tell you all about a war party from the branches it broke marching through.</string>
<stringname="GT1ubyEr">I was the child of a caravan guard. I spent my babyhood swinging from a sling on the side of a camel, and my childhood chasing strays. But caravans are preyed upon by bandits and others, and I decided I don't like being prey. I reckon I have the skills to be a predator.</string>
<stringname="gysOh3M5">Aye - you've heard about the death of the last Emperor?</string>
<stringname="H7tFXLVN">I'm a soldier by trade. I've served in the empire's legions for 20 years. Once upon a time they were worthy of being called 'legions.' We served together for years, and we'd die rather than see our standards falter or fall.</string>
<stringname="H8wpFACA">The great names in our great clans - some of them are brave, and generous with the loot, but don't they like to take their names bandied out after every battle? Poets know there's silver in it if they sing the praises of the Bana Qild, the Bana Sarran - but those of us who are Bana Nobody, well, we deserve a bit of time in the sun too, don't you think?</string>
<stringname="haiCZjua">You truly are the dregs of the street, my lady.</string>
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@@ -210,16 +223,15 @@
<stringname="hinn6pmX">Life's better here in the city. More 'civilized,' you could say. Oh, the work can be a bit rough and tumble, but I feel I can relax after a long day with more refined company, like your good self.</string>
<stringname="hOsJjMZ8">I expect that my kin will soon return to their homes, but I will not. I cannot... I cannot be in a place where I am at the mercy of any beast on the rampage. I will ply my trade among warriors. I will learn to harm as well as to heal. And if the time comes for me to marry, I will live in a land where there is a king, even a tyrant, rather than raising a family amid the war of all against all.</string>
<stringname="hpKAp2ZW">The law is the law, and murder is murder.</string>
<stringname="Hq5HkaBw">I ran off to join the Brotherhood of the Woods as a kid. I don't know if I ever believed that they gave money to the poor, as the stories say. I just didn't want to till someone else's land until I dropped dead, like my father. And I thought maybe the Brothers would be better than common bandits.</string>
<stringname="HREVUExb">Anyway, well, I've had it with narrow escapes from charging cataphracts, and I'm going to seek work in a more professional force.</string>
<stringname="HSHRP59J">Of course, of course. A good engineer deserves his pay.</string>
<stringname="HtbAEEcR">Good thing you were exempt from the laws of man, eh?</string>
<stringname="I9FWCRtO">You look like someone who's been around a bit, so I probably don't have to tell you about how this faithless world of ours works. Sometimes it needs a man who's not afraid to get his hands dirty to make sure there's a bit of order.</string>
<stringname="iaagSMEa">And to think you had all the advantages of an educated childhood.</string>
<stringname="iAmsyL01">Then I joined the Skolderbrotva. The 'Shield Brothers.' It's a good name, you know? They spent most of their time hunkering behind their shields. Ha! Me, I'd wade into the midst of the enemy, dealing out death right and left - and, well, all they had to say afterward was 'Why didn't you keep ranks?'</string>
<stringname="IBlkbs19">So kind of you to take an interest in my troubles...</string>
<stringname="ieTVm3R8">I am {CHARACTER_NAME_STRING}, prince of the wastelands, lord of solitude, master of emptiness. If you wish to know my other names, you may ask my kinsmen, the leopard, the hyena and the gazelle..</string>
<stringname="ifBURmmv">I lived in a village to the north of here, across the gulf. It is a cruel land; there is no strong king, and lords think nothing of ravaging their neighbor's lands. My mother was skilled in the use of herbs to treat disease and wounds. I had a happy peaceful childhood - until one day, a month before I was to be married.</string>
<stringname="ifkJcbZu">I was enslaved by imperial raiders and taken to the city. I was bought by a nobleman, who had me fight other slaves for his personal amusement. But I purchased my freedom, eventually, and now intend to enjoy it.</string>
<stringname="iGH88WOz">At first I was angered, because I believed that I was being kept away from battle and glory. But as it turned out, that's the way the enemy army came. When I saw them at the ford, I challenged their leaders to single combat, as that was our way. They accepted, and sent forth a champion. To make a long story short, I slew him, and then two more who came after him. The rest graciously admitted that my victories meant they were obliged to retreat. </string>
<stringname="iK5Kaa7M">Well, if you wish to know how cruel a pack can be to one of its own, I could enlighten you.</string>
<stringname="ikVu2vQU">I've fought in a few wars, for one side or the other. You want to know about my-comrades-in-arms? Piss on them too. They all turn on you in the end.</string>
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@@ -228,6 +240,7 @@
<stringname="iPCX96mA">My father was a tenant farmer from near Usanc. By law, so long as he paid a third of his crop in tax, he couldn't be kicked off the land. But the landlord wanted to raise sheep, so he had a document forged that said my family moved here a generation ago and therefore wasn't covered by the law... It's a bit complicated, this part, but the end is that they cheated my family of its rights and we cast into poverty.</string>
<stringname="IRTr1FXk">Aye, once I made a fine living, in the Empire, stopping merchants on the roads and asking 'em for a bit of change. But there was a lass there, beautiful as the moon and just as cold, and she was my undoing. Courted by an imperial prefect but I thought, I can do better than that, with my takings, and I brought her the pick of the rings and finery and asked her to pass the evening with me. </string>
<stringname="IUbGYeJV">A man of another clan slew my father. My father had slain his uncle many years before. It was my job to avenge my father, but the plague carried off his killer first. So I would be expected to kill his brother instead. This is how it is with us.</string>
<stringname="IVIIkCaY">I was a sword for hire. Specialized in duels - you know, when there's a trial, and you can't work it out any other way. But you can run that racket too long - eventually the councils start banning you from fighting - so now here I am.</string>
<stringname="ivz2U3e2">See, there's a lot of tales about me, and only some of them are true. The Khuzaits call me by one name, the Aserai by another.</string>
<stringname="iWe4KrSO">About my past, that's all I have to say.</string>
<stringname="IWm0Dbzb">I would not do it. Fate had ended the feud. My mother begged me; my cousins begged me. They said others would mock my father's memory. They said no one would fear to steal our sheep and horses, to molest my sisters. They told me I had a choice: do my duty, or I would no longer be of their blood. </string>
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@@ -254,18 +267,21 @@
<stringname="JrnXaI9i">But the monasteries, you know. The gardens are lovely, the libraries rich... But getting up at dawn to pray for the health of the king and benefactors - I don't know if it was doing his Majesty's health much good, but it certainly wasn't doing me any favors. So I left.</string>
<stringname="JsP90A6a">I am sorry for your loss.</string>
<stringname="jsuOEu3a">There was a woman who lived out on the street. Refugee from the wars. Had a small child, a baby really. It was all she had. She'd make small cakes of wheat over a fire. Then one day a young man from the palace came down the street in his horse. Wasn't looking where he was going, didn't care, and his horse crushed that baby's head.</string>
<stringname="jUosHtkJ">Well, that was the life for me. So long as there was war, there was money, women, companionship. But recently there was a spot of peace, and I don't handle that so well. Was in a tavern here, drank more than I should, and some local lout starts cursing the Company. Calls my brothers bandits. I didn't care for that. Next thing I know I'm on top of him, smashing his face into the ground until he was dead.</string>
<stringname="Jv85koU3">I dressed as a man to serve in the legions. There are many of us who've done that, believe it or not. You've probably met one of us before, even if you didn't know it.</string>
<stringname="jwGsuWlN">Well, you know how these things go - his kin came to our village looking for my blood. They didn't find me, but wounded one of my cousins. It was time to teach them a lesson, but my brothers had a fit of cowardice. So they brokered a deal, and I was forced to leave. How do you like that?</string>
<stringname="K9ig7Mst">A man who cannot master his rage is a greater threat then the man who murders with intent.</string>
<stringname="KAK7DLTq">My family were farmers, but we were driven off of our land. We tried to make a new home in Charas, but the people weren't too keen on newcomers, and one of the gangs ran us out. Now I don't know what to do to myself, but whatever it is, I reckon I'll have to learn how to fight.</string>
<stringname="Kaz4NbDN">So Urkhun, a man of vision, offered to pay the weight in silver of any imperial engineer captured alive. These captives were forced to teach men like my father the art of siegecraft. My father, in turn, taught me.</string>
<stringname="KbdCL6nK">Very responsible of you. Can't go killing off the whole village, now.</string>
<stringname="KbP87Fzv">I was part of a clan that lived beyond the mountains to the south. We came under pressure from our neighbors, who wanted to take our lush grazing grounds in the foothills. We were an ancient clan, that valued its name, but in this generation we have been short of men, so I fought alongside my brothers - indeed, I slew our enemies' champion in single combat. That stopped the pressure on our lands, but not the violence. </string>
<stringname="Ke9L8QbX">The searing gravel plain knows me, as do the rippling sands and the shadowed canyon. The hidden spring whispers to me, 'Come hither and drink,' and the high outcrop unveils to me the horizons.</string>
<stringname="KGa4gmDW">Ah, yes - well, it would be beneath someone with a lineage like mine to pledge allegiance to the current parvenus who call themselves the emirs of the Aserai. So, I fight for those who pay me my value in denars, good noble denars.</string>
<stringname="KHq1bUOa">I am the prince of horsethieves! I have stolen Aserai mares from amid the tents and ridden them across the desert under the moon, I have taken Vlandian stallions from their paddocks, the sturdy ponies of the Khuzaits, and the steady geldings of the imperial lancers. But, I'll be the first to admit, it is risky work, so sometimes I do other jobs.</string>
<stringname="KiIb4MZU">Well... We do not bow and scrape, but we do honor our debts. If you were to get me out of here, my people would be quite grateful.</string>
<stringname="KNCnJN4n">I'll tell you my story. If it bothers you, I'd prefer you keep it to yourself - unless you've lived months on crusts of bread and chaff of grain, that is.</string>
<stringname="KNQCoxIJ">I am a sword for hire. Some think us scum but I have my own code of honor. If I kill a man, it must be in a fair fight. My last employer asked me to do something dishonorable, so now I am looking for a new employer.</string>
<stringname="kQO0wZLj">I guess I'd say that I'm just a lady who didn't care for her distaff, and took up a spear instead. If you want to know more, hire me, point me at your enemies, and I'll show you rather than tell you.</string>
<stringname="KrXlrnsg">The quarries are hiring. You could always haul rocks for a living, if you're so averse to launching them.</string>
<stringname="kSJEjvHm">I am a knight of the Vlandians. I am a man of honor. Honor, of course, dictates that one avenges all insults, regardless of the consequences. I shall say no more, only that I am in need of a new captain to follow due to complications in my previous circumstances.</string>
<stringname="KtN79I0H">That's it? The dishonorable part? That you work for merchants? I'd thought it would be a lot worse.</string>
<stringname="KyiL4Hvs">So here I am. Guess I'm not so interested in the marriage part, but I like the denars and I like my freedom. Maybe some day I'll surprise my Da with a nice farm and a couple of slaves to keep him happy in his old age.</string>
<stringname="kzvTFUbj">That's a rather unique theology.</string>
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@@ -273,12 +289,12 @@
<stringname="l0OCTrl9">Indeed... Well, at any rate, if you find there is an inconvenient wall between you and the object of your desire, and you wish it reduced to rubble, you know where to find me.</string>
<stringname="L14od7cC">When I was a boy, I was the best fighter in my village. 'You're stronger as a boy than a full-grown warrior,' people would say. I'm not boasting here - that's what they'd tell me. So when I came of age I went off to make my fortune.</string>
<stringname="l4A16aGs">It's a cruel world, and if you think a warrior's life is any easier, you have a painful lesson in store.</string>
<stringname="L7tJUtlN">I was an orphan, you see. Worked for a gang, as our kind must so often do. Did their foul work for them. But they perished in a siege, and I decided to strike out on my own, see what this fine land of Calradia could offer me.</string>
<stringname="lbLBkvoe">My father died shortly after my mother became pregnant with me. I was her only child. Like most of our people, she had wanted sons. So she raised me as a son, and boasted of me like she would boast about a son. When I was a baby, she boasted of how swiftly I emptied her breast of milk. When I was a girl, she boasted of how I killed steppe ducks with my bow. When I became a woman, she boasted that soon I would be the first of my age-set to bring home the head of an enemy slain in battle.</string>
<stringname="LDGC2Rjy">I'd be grateful if you got me out of here. Don't want to die just yet. If you want to know why I'm in here, well, I'll tell you.</string>
<stringname="LDlFgmIs">Well now, I am a warrior of the Battanians. There is no greater boast than that, I will tell you! But perhaps if you hire me, I can tell you more later about the great names I have slain and the heads I have taken.</string>
<stringname="lGSH1wsv">Pull up a chair, friend - you'll be glad you asked!</string>
<stringname="LIYZlInR">A hard life, but I must admire your fortitude, at least.</string>
<stringname="LjkQ4fYp">I come from a town where every alley has its 'protector.' These are men with some strength but also a lot of respect, who stand up for the rights of the people there. My father was our CommonArea's protector, and so it fell on me to take his job after he grew too old to do it himself.</string>
<stringname="LpoAp39X">Hmm... Yes... Legally, you do seem to have a case.</string>
<stringname="LjkQ4fYp">I come from a town where every alley has its 'protector.' These are men with some strength but also a lot of respect, who stand up for the rights of the people there. My father was our alley's protector, and so it fell on me to take his job after he grew too old to do it himself.</string>
<stringname="lQ4PPsnT">At any rate, I will find a master who allows me to win fame for myself. Or barring that, land and silver, so that I can buy a poet or two</string>
<stringname="LTvInwfa">I have a cup of wine before me. The room is nice and warm. Why not?</string>
<stringname="LVkWjJgD">I had a wild childhood, you can imagine. Living in the woods, never doing much work. But the winters were cruel. Ma died when I was twelve. And I knew I wanted something different. So I came to the town. Plenty of work for a girl who knows how to use a blade, and at least here there's a fire at night and a roof over my head. </string>
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@@ -291,6 +307,7 @@
<stringname="mPLvjSiB">A lot of heads... You can imagine, a lot of other warriors were envious of me. Some in my village even conspired against me, had me expelled. I lost my hall, and I had to bury the heads. I doubt you could recognize them any more. What a pity, eh? A collection like that will never be seen again.</string>
<stringname="mSQSZyEF">You probably know that the Khuzaits once lived out on the open grass. But our khans became used to luxuries. They lived in cities, and wished to trade with and make war upon other kings. Khan Urkhun, whom some call the Great and others call the Cruel, decided the clans must live in fixed places, so he could count their warriors and levy them, and count their flocks and tax them. Thirty years ago Khan Urkhun ordered all the clans of the Khuzaits to claim land and live upon it, and the noyans to build castles. Most complied, for they had come to value their comforts more than their freedom.</string>
<stringname="mxK0bSmE">I am no warrior, not yet - but I could be one. I am good with a sling, and a knife. I can run fast. I can bear hardship. I would stand my ground, because I have nowhere to run.</string>
<stringname="N0yE1Ptz">I was an herbalist in a village in the north. But our home was raided, and I've been forced to wander in search of work. There are many like me on the roads of Calradia.</string>
<stringname="N9rVRfaW">Oh.. Of course I am! This is fascinating. But tell me about your own deeds.</string>
<stringname="NDR2Xcoq">But you see, for a big man, it's not all sitting in the shade and counting your money. A big man must beat and he must kill, or people will not fear you. And one day, as I watched, he beat my mother to death over the share of his cut.</string>
<stringname="nHrF87Up">I guess there's something to be learned from those skilled at all trades.</string>
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@@ -301,15 +318,16 @@
<stringname="nqLiWPR7">Such pieties from a man who intends to pillage the labor of others.</string>
<stringname="Nz0iyKaM">All one's pepper in one warehouse. A cautionary tale indeed.</string>
<stringname="O3Pkql2y">Takes more to being a warrior than a horse and a sword, young one.</string>
<stringname="O48tYFZ0">Anyway, get me out of here, and I reckon the other wolves will be grateful. You'd be upholding the law by which we live, you see?</string>
<stringname="o6ugLOZi">I came from a good family, with much land. Since I was a girl, I wished to be a shield-maiden. I practiced fighting with the village boys and the old warriors. But it is a strange thing - while some families in our lands take pride in a daughter who takes up arms, others accord it a great shame, and my father was of the latter type.</string>
<stringname="oAyYQazn">She agreed, eagerly enough! There was wine and talk, but too much wine, and I slept off. Then woke in the morning, I did, and hooves were clattering outside and up comes the prefect and a file of horsemen, and away they took me to the town to be hanged.</string>
<stringname="OcCLz4je">When I was a child, my mother sent me out on the streets to beg and pick pockets. And the big man of our quarter took a cut of that. I got a little older and my mother taught me how to rob drunken travellers, and the big man took a cut of that.</string>
<stringname="OESUaPeh">So anyway, I need money to build a new hall, and start a new collection. So if someone wants to pay me my worth as a warrior, my spear is theirs!</string>
<stringname="OgdD6bs9">If you really took down a dozen men fighting single-handed, that is quite impressive.</string>
<stringname="OGyYFIEA">The guardsmen came to burn our neighbor's house, so their debts would be forgotten. The flames spread to our house, and it was destroyed. My father tried to save his strongbox, and that was his undoing. A riot is a holiday for thieves and robbers, and some saw him dragging it through the streets, so they knifed him and took it. We tried to find shelter with my uncle, but there was no food in the city, and he turned us out. So we joined the refugees in the country, living on what we could steal from the fields. </string>
<stringname="ohA8pdlS">I kill for a living. I've killed a lot, and if you want me to kill for you, you'll hire me. You seem to have been around a bit. I don't think I need to tell you any more. I'm sure you can reckon if I'm worth my price.</string>
<stringname="OHFZ9EAk">Mmm.... Well, for now, I do not know what to do with myself. Perhaps I could consider joining a warband, if the commander was well-bred and kept his word.</string>
<stringname="omEoa2q7">But this cousin... I would not marry that man! He was a boor, a drunk - never there was a night that he did not reak of wine, never a morning that he did not reak of vomit! But a cataphract's daughter is not some chit you can marry against her will. I took a horse from my father's estate - my horse, legally - his old sword, and rode off.</string>
<stringname="OohIyeJo">My parents had no sons, only daughters, and I as the eldest inherited our warehouse and camels. It is common enough here for women to do that. But banditry and the fortunes of trade ruined me, which is also common, and now I must make my money some other way.</string>
<stringname="oqWFzmkN">Blessed be the Gods, happened that my cousin Aed was in the guard. He sprung me that night from the prison, and together we went roaming round the country. But a passing magistrate decided he weren't parting with his purse, and pulled his blade rather than handing it over like a sensible lad. I took him down, but now before my poor Aed was butchered. See now the price of woman's ingratitude?</string>
<stringname="OqzUb0E6">My story? Certainly I can tell you, if it interests you.</string>
<stringname="osaIOFNx">I like to fight, I'm good at it, and in my opinion, the Heavens smile on a man who loves his job.</string>
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@@ -322,6 +340,7 @@
<stringname="OYOwasMe">You can imagine - it's a bit of a racket. People build arches that fall down, and his colleagues go on recommending him because he's someone's brother or old apprentice. The greatest sin in our brotherhood is criticizing the work of other engineers. </string>
<stringname="P1EHkSAx">When my second suitor passed of a fever, I was unnerved. When my third suitor was thrown from his horse on a hunt, I knew I must do something..</string>
<stringname="P1fLl2KS">See, some girls are attracted to bad boys. My mother was one of those. Bandits came to her village one day and she made up her mind. Ran off with them. 'Married' the leader. But he was killed soon, so she married the one who replaced him. And so forth and so on.</string>
<stringname="pabl5PiA">I was a shepherd. Normally the job is given to boys, but I always had a knack for bows and slings, which we use to keep the wolves away. The trouble with being a shepherd, though, is that there's always the chance of quarrels with the herders of the neighboring village over disputed pastures or missing sheep. Perhaps I was too good with a bow - I killed a neighbor. My parents were poor and could not afford the blood money, so I fled.</string>
<stringname="pD92hewA">My father was a merchant in {IMPERIALCAPITAL}. We lived in a rich house, with many servants. I wanted for nothing. Our neighbor was a moneylender, who specialized in loans to the imperial guard. That turned out to be a bad neighborhood in which to live, when the riots came. </string>
<stringname="PGa4Ehaa">My father was a wheelwright. Everyone knew that the best work was in {IMPERIALCAPITAL}, in the streets around the hippodrome fixing chariots. So we sold our shop and went there, he and I - my mother was dead. The rumors weren't wrong, the work was good, but then you know what happened. The riots, the hippodrome burned, and my father killed for being a foreigner.</string>
<stringname="phhXgKRm">Some resisted. The Karakhergit - you may have heard of them. They still dwell in the steppes but they are outcaste, raided for slaves by the others. My people were the Uvait. We were broken up - some bands were lured into the villages with silver, others were hunted down, defeated, and their sons taken as hostages. </string>
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@@ -330,25 +349,28 @@
<stringname="PIu7b9wO">I was born around the time she married her fourth husband. My father, well, he was hanged a few months before that. A couple others were hanged, but mostly they were killed by their own followers. You see, the trick to leading bandits is that you can't value your life very much. Never back down from a fight or an insult. Sooner or later your luck will run out. Usually sooner.</string>
<stringname="pKMVhx2v">They never cease to shock me, the sordid tales you hear from the dregs of the alleys.</string>
<stringname="PKzUUVKC">So go on - ask me how thick a mangonel's struts must be to withstand the torsion to throw a five-istar ball. Ask me how heavy a ram's head must be, compared to its total weight, so that it does not rebound from the gate and strike the men who wield it. I never imagined I would know such things, when I dreamed of making men's lives better through the dispensing of justice.</string>
<stringname="PO4nU3Lz">Mince words as you like, but murder is murder.</string>
<stringname="pQVFVqa9">As well they should have. Those who curse their protectors deserve no home.</string>
<stringname="PWpTT0NM">I told the captain that I couldn't do these things. The alley people - they had to trust me. The captain didn't take 'no' for an answer. He pressured me. He threatened my father. What could I do? I couldn't betray my people but I couldn't betray my father either. I took my family and left.</string>
<stringname="pya1JSNe">I was a surgeon, trained at the imperial academy. But my home and infirmary were burned in a bout of unrest, and now I must wander the world a bit. There are many of us out there, you know, forced to make what living we can.</string>
<stringname="pzK7TN05">But one day I was contacted by an agent of the Bureau of Barbarian Affairs. I do not know how well you know them. Their original mission was to keep the foreign tribes divided and weak, but they expanded their remit into all the affairs of the empire, anything that might be deemed a threat. At first they wanted small harmless details about my patients. To do so was a violation of my oath, but I was anxious to have the favor of the Bureau. But soon they began to call on me for more and more.</string>
<stringname="PzOwAteI">I am of the Karakhergit. If you haven't heard that name, you might have heard us called the 'Slave Tribe,' because that is what other clans of the Khuzaits call us. Which is strange, because we are the only one of them that does not bow our head to a khan and call him 'Master.'</string>
<stringname="q3ZXATdq">We burned away some of the forest and planted barley. My mother died of a fever, but me and my sister and my father, we lived up there 10 lean and lonely years, all so my father didn't have to doff his hat to any other man. Then he vanished in a blizzard.</string>
<stringname="q71Cbib7">I am a warrior, but I am not from one of the greater clans. After a battle, I may get a bloodstained weapon pried from the enemy's hand or a pat on the head from my emir, but no song of my deeds. No robe of honor. I intend to fight for someone who see in people more than their name.</string>
<stringname="q977EaUU">You ask a lot of questions, friend. So I'll tell you what you need to know, and no more.</string>
<stringname="qbYupvSJ">So I'm having no more of that. I'm on the look-out for an outfit that employs real fighters.</string>
<stringname="qE4rBOI7">I am the son of a knight, but not a son born in wedlock. I was raised in my father's house, but when he was taken prisoner and ransomed, he had to sell much of what he owned, and therefore could no longer support me. I decided to set out to make my own name, if my family could not give me one. It is a common tale.</string>
<stringname="qFLZGWHj">My father was a wheelwright but there's more money in catapults than in carts these days. I did a bit of work repairing the mangonels round the walls of my hometown, and I reckon I can build some as well.</string>
<stringname="qFU6cYSe">When I was just a baby, a woman said to have the Sight came to my father's hall. When she saw me, she told him that she saw the mark of the faeries upon me. She performed a divination, and said she had learned that I was to be a prank played on mankind: I should grow up to be a great beauty, but that any man who proposes to marry me shall die.</string>
<stringname="qgmt8aPz">So that was no kind of life, neither. I left the woods, paid a little money to friends who got my name off the outlaw list, and now I'm a regular law-abiding citizen. Officially, that is.</string>
<stringname="QGw2qtpU">Of course, my word being that of a Karakhergit, and his being one of the well-dressed but servile people of the towns, they will believe his, and hang me.</string>
<stringname="QIrR9NhL">A wise decision.</string>
<stringname="QJCieDQ9">My father sent me off into the world, to build our fortune with my sword. This is a common story among the sons of our people.</string>
<stringname="qlAW1aTi">What do you want to know about? My family? Piss on them. I left home as a child and never had cause to regret it. My brothers can take my inheritance, and I hope they choke on it.</string>
<stringname="QlWhygXi">I was born out of wedlock. My father took me in, but of course there was no question of me inheriting anything. I did not wish to be a burden on my brothers, so I decided to go to war.</string>
<stringname="qMPY1rUo">Well, you know what a man of honor does when he is insulted like that -- I struck him down, and then his friends came against me, and I struck them down too! I laid a full dozen of them down before they finally overbore me. Have you ever heard of a more glorious stand against such odds in the name of honor?</string>
<stringname="QRgltY66">May all of us have such honorable foes!</string>
<stringname="QUamabEa">I was a merchant's daughter. There was a bout of unrest in our home city, and our home and warehouses were burned and our family made penniless. I shall spare you the details. I am sure you've heard plenty of similar tales in these times.</string>
<stringname="qVQdEYyJ">My family had debts so I joined the army. I guess I always liked men's work more than women's work. The legions took hill women as scouts but I was never the hidey-sneaky type. So I did what I did to be in the spear line.</string>
<stringname="qxBbhtLH">Perhaps you can rise above the sorry circumstances of your birth.</string>
<stringname="QyYYfo4o">Aye - you've heard about the death of the last Emperor? Well, what most people believe is a pack of lies.</string>
<stringname="qyvj53mi">Once I was just another back-country healer, attending to squalling babies and superstitious villagers. But now I'm trying to make the money that my skill with medicine deserves.</string>
<stringname="R2haBQK7">I had no special desire to be married but my family found me a groom anyway. I consented, but my husband and I detested each other from the first. Once he insulted me in the marketplace, I cursed his manhood, he struck me, and I pulled a knife and he pulled his. I won.</string>
<stringname="R36Bl55h">Most noble of you, sir.</string>
<stringname="r8ga8i93">I like to fight, so I made it known that I'd fight for anyone if the price is right. Shed a little blood, make a little coin, drink it away, make a little more, all in the cause of justice. Not a bad life, eh?</string>
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@@ -359,6 +381,7 @@
<stringname="RBwhiMkD">We came down on the thief's village one day at dawn. They were too many, and we were beaten. My brothers and most of my kin were all slain. I had nowhere to go.</string>
<stringname="RdiZT1Gb">Well, I can't just sit around and drink myself to death, so I sell my sword to anyone worth following. I'm a good trainer - I don't bother with horsemen or archers, but if you've got good steady footman I can do a lot with them.</string>
<stringname="re1jRErx">Some speak well of their time in the Wolfskins. It is intended to teach you the ways of the woods. But the 'pack' I joined were all rich feral children, playing at being animals.</string>
<stringname="RewhujIa">My family lost their herds and land in a dispute, and so we pledged ourself to another clan as our protectors. They treated us like servants. Once I stood up for myself, and ended up killing one of our 'protectors' in a fight. They say that is a great shame to do, but it seems that whatever happens to you, once you've tasted defeat, you encounter shame.</string>
<stringname="rgSWtZ0w">I'll tell you my story. I suppose it is a fine lesson in how destiny makes mock of our intentions.</string>
<stringname="rKeqsRyj">I'll tell you my tale. But I will warn you in advance: It is of no concern to me whether you approve or disapprove of what I did.</string>
<stringname="RObjObjy">Certainly - I make no secret of my ambitions.</string>
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@@ -369,21 +392,26 @@
<stringname="rSwj5KBb">Let me tell you something - I'm sick of cowardice, sick of those who don't stand by their comrades and their kin.</string>
<stringname="ruX5vDpE">I fancy myself a philosopher of medicine, you see. My parents sent me to a monastery when I was young, to study both the healing power of the Heavens and the healing powers of man - the science of herbs, that is to say.</string>
<stringname="RZglJSZ3">I think my story shows that I am adaptable, at least. If there was room for me in a warlord's retinue, say, I imagine I could quickly learn whatever skills were needed.</string>
<stringname="RZizPvaI">I'm an engineer, with imperial army training. I'm sure by now you've met a few of us around, and know a bit about what we can do.</string>
<stringname="rZs4HKkc">Necessity or not, you seem to take pride in what you did.</string>
<stringname="sbK6AEjB">I have scraped together a few coins. I will not say how, but they were enough to buy a sword. I am determined to earn enough to buy my people what was taken away from them - herds. I am sad to say I know little of the steppe, but I know much of the towns, of the back streets, of how to live in the gutters and shadows and grow strong.</string>
<stringname="sfFLudTM">One time they came at midnight - they had a man who plotted against the Emperor, they said, and they needed a confession, and wished me to use my art to elicit that confession. If I refused, they said, they would disclose our relationship to my patients - I would be ruined. I went with them, to my shame, and what I was asked to do to that man's body -- I shall not repeat it.</string>
<stringname="sfgZhUgT">I grew up in the north of the Vlandian lands. Sometimes men up there take their families far up in the hills, to live without any master or lord. But it's a hard life, cold and lonely. I want something better. I know the wilds well. I figure I can be of good use to a lord or lady, as a scout, and can at least choose my master.</string>
<stringname="SfmWAuv3">The elders sat in judgment on our case. As it turned out, they had plenty of precedent. They accorded our fight a fair duel, and thus I was innocent of murder. On the other hand, I was excluded from his inheritance. I suppose that was fair, although I would have enjoyed wearing his jewels and riding his horse in front of his family.</string>
<stringname="SmWz2t65">I'm a bandit, love. I like bad men and dangerous deeds. Got it from my mother, I suppose. But banditry - you earn your silver, you spend it, you never spend long in the same place. There have to be more stable ways to kill, loot and roam.</string>
<stringname="spHoDrGN">I said nothing. I let my brother hang.I thought I did the right thing, but every night thereafter I saw accusation in the eyes of my fellows. I could not face them. I fled. And here I am now.</string>
<stringname="suf4hUxN">When I was a lad, I dabbled in crime and banditry a bit, but am now seeking more honest work. I still like the fighting and killing part, though. Anyway, I'm sure you've met a fair amount of men like me on your journeys.</string>
<stringname="SwwXXPNe">We could have marched out in battle array. No one would have stood against us. If we couldn't restore order, at least we could have gone home with honor. But instead, we turned our anger against the city. My comrades looted, set fires, even murdered those who we were supposed to protect. It was a disgrace.</string>
<stringname="SYBe3aIC">Do you have a trade? Any skills? Or just a string of ancestors?</string>
<stringname="T07xEuQR">A noble decision!</string>
<stringname="t0VGwvPo">You may have heard of my father - Cynan fen Aedeg. Many called him Cynan the Brave. It's my life's goal to be his worthy son, though he died when I was a baby. My stepfather, though rich in land and cows, does not have the same reputation, although I resolved early in my life that duty to my mother necessitated that I serve him as loyally as I would my natural father.</string>
<stringname="TAC5Tnx4">But when I got older, well, it wasn't so easy to take me on the road. Too many boys giving me funny looks. And my Da, he wanted a good husband for me, but the boys he knew weren't the marrying type. So I said to him, 'I'll be like you, Da, carry a sword and guard rich merchants. And maybe, with the money I earn, some decent boy will love me for my dowry, if not my family name.' He fussed a bit about that but he had no better ideas.</string>
<stringname="tbbQ3PZH">You slew your husband in a duel? Get away!</string>
<stringname="TD3babBS">I was a robber on the highways, in the Empire, making a fine living from the merchants on the roads. But I loved a girl in town, and snuck in to visit her from time to time. Then I got caught, and had to reveal the hiding place all my hard-earned loot to the guards to escape the noose. So here I am now.</string>
<stringname="TgN0DvXA">Slavers took me when I was a girl. The Empire were legends of warrior-women out in the deep steppe, and when I was sold, they claimed I was one of these - to fight other slaves, to entertain them by making their legends come true.</string>
<stringname="TIYbctCQ">My father died shortly after my birth. I was my mother's only child. Our clan was poor, and a woman with a baby - especially a girl-baby - was only a drain on what little they had. So we were sold to another clan, as servants. Some years later, when my mother died, I stole one of their swords and one of their horses and rode off into the grass.</string>
<stringname="TNOM6nuo">I am from one of the lesser known clans of the Aserai. We take the name of an undistinguished younger son of the Qildi line from five generations back. We have never held fiefs or won much wealth, but when the Qild called out their kinfolk, or the tribes were summoned by the Sultan, we took our place in the battle line.</string>
<stringname="tpPE2Ert">There's not much more to say. My master was a sadistic animal but he let me keep my winnings, and eventually buy my freedom. I think he may also have realized that eventually, had he kept me against my will, he'd have ended up with a severed neck vein. So here I am, looking to make a living through the only means I know - shedding other people's blood. Got work?</string>
<stringname="tqbc8gOd">I suppose you should be given the benefit of the doubt.</string>
<stringname="tqdwOLPg">So here I am now, drinking to my poor cousin's memory, and looking for a bit of honest work. Well, it needn't be too honest, I suppose.</string>
<stringname="tRgVxROs">I doubt you have such a collection, and if you did, it would be the last thing I'd like to see.</string>
<stringname="TVQEb0MJ">Such a cruel decree...</string>
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@@ -392,22 +420,25 @@
<stringname="TxQztLfy">I am one of those whose clan was hunted down a generation ago when they refused the decree of Urkhun Khan, that they must settle and be taxed. They took our flocks, and we have since lived like beggars on the edge of the towns. The far grass teases us with its beauty, but if we went there with no sheep, we would soon starve.</string>
<stringname="TxwPTwvh">So I have resolved to hire out my sword and make enough money for such a ship. Having done so, I shall take it to faraway shores and bring home silver and slaves so that we may buy land enough for all. In this way I will do my duty to my family.</string>
<stringname="TzOdlTeb">Yeah.. The merchants give me jobs. But I'm not sure I care much for guarding caravans. A lot of sitting around listening to boring talk about prices.</string>
<stringname="TzRarDyf">A few weeks later, got sent to a village to buy some boots. Found a whole detachment of the town watch there waiting for me. Brought me to town and charged me with a dozen murders, none of which I did. No question Vatand shopped me. The good news is, a week after I was taken, he got knifed while he slept. So the old Brotherhood, the noble Brotherhood - it's not quite dead yet! I am though, most likely.</string>
<stringname="U0zuHtwa">Of course - and I'm sure you'll agree it's a tale worth of the telling!</string>
<stringname="u1yi8YOM">Well, I guess I showed myself a bit too eager. The councils stopped accepting me as champion. Told me I sold my sword too cheaply, they said. What can I say? I have to look for other work now. </string>
<stringname="U6GQq4Id">They would sit around the fire at night and belittle each other. I was never quick with my tongue and the others learned to gang up on me. At one point I could take it no longer - I stabbed one in a fight. No one knew how to treat the wound, so he bled to death. And then I fled.</string>
<stringname="UCpJEIE3">I am a warrior. A shield-maiden, as the Nords say. It is not uncommon in the northern lands. Perhaps you have met some of us before.</string>
<stringname="uHbzVsYk">I come from the highlands. My people were suspicious folk. It is easy to them to get into their heads that a child, especially a girl, practices witchcraft. I had two neighbors die of fevers within the same season, and so I was chased from my home and driven to fend for myself. Which I can, and did, but now I'm looking for steady work.</string>
<stringname="UnNwWJT2">I don't mind telling.</string>
<stringname="uSYQb9KY">Now, in Urkhun's day, if a Khuzait apprenticed in siegecraft went to work for another master, it meant a very painful death if he was recaptured. But times have changed. The richest plums of the empire's cities have fallen, and they build their walls higher than they once did. The Khuzait lords pay less for a siegemaster, and that pay is often late. So I am up to taking other employment, if it is offered.</string>
<stringname="UydGgLl9">I'm a trapper, a hunter. Used to be I could make a good living through furs... But with all these bandits about.... I'd rather be part of an army, I think. Spent my whole life in the woods and I reckon I could do well as a scout.</string>
<stringname="V6boHnpo">I am of the desert. I know its ways. The wind guides me. The scorpion comes into my camp at night and tells me its secrets. The howls of the jackal bring me news of the hunt.</string>
<stringname="vgcTdEvc">I was the son of a slave, but my bought me my freedom and an apprenticeship with a healer. I could make a lot of money as a doctor if I came from a well-known family that would attract patients. But I don't, so I offer my skills to war-leaders, who cannot afford to be so picky.</string>
<stringname="VgyWyNvL">Yeah... I'll tell you a tale of life in the great Khuzait hordes, terror of the world.</string>
<stringname="vhQVhYFV">I started following the armies around. Always work for a herbalist, and while I don't care much for dawn marches, they're infrequent enough, and often there's a spare cart to sleep on. And warriors too - wounds of the body and wounds of the soul. I do far more good there then I ever did among my fellow monks, I can tell you.</string>
<stringname="VHyXsXu7">You know, you'd think this place could serve proper kumis, instead of this piss they call wine... Sorry, where were we? Ah yes, my story.</string>
<stringname="VILYhtjW">I'll tell you my story.</string>
<stringname="VL2MfGM3">But they don't seem to care much about that. So mostly now I'm saying the dead man was a right tight bastard, and I could name you a dozen men who'd be proud to have cut his throat. Found some sympathy in town with that line, I have. Still, I need to stand trial.</string>
<stringname="vKSGJNxT">I am a warrior. I would recite to you my lineage, but that would take an hour. I would tell you my deeds, but that would take two. So, instead - if you pay me - I shall come with you and fight your enemies, and that will be the best demonstration of my mettle.</string>
<stringname="VLIz9b7u">You thought there was such a thing as noble bandits? Perhaps you went in search of fairies next?</string>
<stringname="vney5HbZ">I rode for years behind Monchug Khan, even before he was khan. I had good name and a good sum of money. There was a girl in a neighboring village, quiet thing but good childbearing hips, who I thought would make a good bride. </string>
<stringname="VnfPb4ji">Indeed. There's much to be learned from the foreigner, whoever the foreigner is to you.</string>
<stringname="VoubR8y2">Yes, I know such injustices are common.</string>
<stringname="Vs428XEb">That seems a reasonable ambition. A good scout can command a high price.</string>
<stringname="VUbklG5U">I was raised as a stableboy. But I had a gift for breaking horses, and for my hard work, and the risks I took to my neck taming young stallions, the old lord promised me that on my fifteenth birthday I should have a horse of my own.</string>
<stringname="Vwhnrf66">So here I am. I have mouths to feed, and the thing I know best is to fight.</string>
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...
@@ -418,17 +449,20 @@
<stringname="WAsRyGDR">{CHARACTER_NAME_STRING} is fine. No need to bother the hyenas. So, what can you do?</string>
<stringname="waUxgr5b">Let me tell you something else - war is not a game. It's not a game. Play by the rules and you die. The streets aren't the arena. If you think someone's your enemy, you take them down - don't wait for a polite challenge.</string>
<stringname="WBE6MeCl">That was the day my life changed. A band from a nearby village came and attacked us. We had done them no harm; we had never even thought of them as our enemies. But they wanted our cattle. They killed my mother and the youth who I was to marry, and burned our village. Everything gone. Those who lived fled into the woods.</string>
<stringname="wGyCPQwG">I kill for a living. If you want me to kill for you, pay me what I'm worth. If you don't, then don't waste my time.</string>
<stringname="wH5GepOD">I am Battanian. But for 20 years, I fought for the Empire. Indeed, most Battanians my age learned their trade in the legions. We saw no dishonor in it. They fed us well, they paid us well, they respected our courage.</string>
<stringname="wiR9bSfw">I try at least to pick and choose my master, and hope at least that some of our equestrian honor rubs off on the men of commerce.</string>
<stringname="wk1jPh1S">A sad tale.</string>
<stringname="WmGxA0P1">But there's no legions any more. And since Caladog became king, well, he's gotten the young to think that to fight for the Empire is treason. Treason to what? 'Battania'? There is no Battania. Never has been. Just a bunch of quarreling warlords, who'll steal your cows as soon as you turn your back on them.</string>
<stringname="WQCAanal">Ah, the old days. And no doubt back then they complained about the older days. I've heard enough.</string>
<stringname="wQRSM1lz">My father was a judge, and as such, I was educated to be a judge. That is usually the case with us. But I was always better at mathematics than letters. So I took mercenary work, making catapults. My father cast me out of his home in disgust. He once told me that the greatest privilege on earth is to dispense justice, but he will never know the joy of firing a mine and seeing the walls of a tyrannical baron or cruel archon crumble, so what does he know?</string>
<stringname="wRS9yqyx">I fled a bad marriage. There are many like me; I meet them in every tavern in Calradia. I am lucky in that my father was a cataphract, and taught me to ride and fight before he died, and I suppose that's how I must make a living.</string>
<stringname="WtNQGw3o">My family were tenant farmers. But that life was rubbish, and our lord was rubbish too. So I fled to the woods, where there were rebels, called themselves the 'Brotherhood of the Woods.' Rubbish of the woods, more like it. Puffed-up bandits. So now I'm looking for a boss who's not rubbish. Does such a thing exist? I guess I'll find out.</string>
<stringname="WvLK5myZ">So I acquired some denars - I will not say how - and with it bought a silk robe and some jewelry. This got me inside the doors of rich men's houses, and the cures I worked, and the reputation I earned, have done the rest. </string>
<stringname="wxSiMjJ0">Anyway, you come across a chief who needs a reliable sword in his warband, you let me know.</string>
<stringname="Wz71n66t">I'm sorry. Are you not paying attention?</string>
<stringname="Wzl0V95v">Pour yourself a drink stranger. I'll tell you all you need to know.</string>
<stringname="WZyybR2g">A tragic tale. My condolences.</string>
<stringname="X4DnbFDf">Look, if you want to give this tale a really happy ending, you think you could get me out of here? Prove in a duel that I'm innocent? Some of the Brothers - they really are my brothers. They'd pay you well.</string>
<stringname="x50bW6NF">I should have refused - my practice was ruined anyway. To blot out the memory of that night, I took opium, until my pallid face so alarmed my patients that they no longer called on me. So I fled the city, and have wandered from town to town ever since. I would welcome steady work, if I could find it.</string>
<stringname="x6acpIw7">So... Anyway, if you've got an enterprise or two that might not be entirely legal, and need a sharp eye on the villains you've got running it, you may find that my skills are of use to you.</string>
<stringname="X8Zkp0Ut">The insults were many, and they had no choice but to respond. One cousin was slain in a duel, one cousin killed his opponent, so we had two new bloodfeuds on our hands. I chose to leave home before it got any worse.</string>
...
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@@ -436,8 +470,8 @@
<stringname="X9zcXYPa">I can fight. And I don't mind doing work that others would shirk.</string>
<stringname="xB6zj8ei">I wasn't the type to take that meekly. My cousin, he'd lost his land too some years before, and he'd run off to join the Brotherhood of the Woods. People said that they stood up for the poor. Took money from those who did injustice, and gave it to those who were wronged. So I went to join them too.</string>
<stringname="Xe2pVmnX">I was the brat of a caravan guard. Never knew my mother, but my Da kept me close. I grew up running between the legs of camels on the steppe, eavesdropping on merchant gossip in the sarais, eating sesame cakes bought me by the other guards. A happier childhood you couldn't imagine.</string>
<stringname="XEsq2Gd6">I was a smith, but I had a problem with gambling. I borrowed from an alley gang, I couldn't pay back, and, well, you probably know what comes next. A smith just can't pack up and go to another place. There's guilds that make that difficult. But I'm a big fellow, I figure I can swing a weapon as well as my tools, and there might be work for me in the wars.</string>
<stringname="XfMCfCXk">I resolved to take up the profession of arms, so that all men know that I am not the marrying type. And I tell all others of the curse upon me, as soon as I meet them. And I am far from my family, so no man will go to my father to ask for my hand.</string>
<stringname="XiIMYkX6">See, they want to blame me for killing a man back when I was a wolf. My father and he had a quarrel over land. First, I'm saying I didn't kill him. And second, I'm saying that, had I killed him, it would have been back when I was a wolf. So either way I'm innocent, you see?</string>
<stringname="XKsjweaA">Unfortunately, I've found that siegework pays irregularly. My contracts are usually honored if the city falls and is looted. But if dysentery breaks out in the siege camp and the army must march away, well, you may find that you submit your receipts in vain.</string>
<stringname="xl6SnA6n">I was a soldier. It was my father's profession. I thought it would be easy for me. I wasn't scared of death or hardship. But things happen in war - not the deaths, the wounds, the screaming - but terrible things. It's difficult to explain.</string>
<stringname="xNPAZdtX">My father is Aytham, son of Thamuq, who was son of Munbilas - the elder son, mind you, not the younger - and he was son of Numayn - Numayn of the Mountain, that is, not the less illustrious ones of that name - and he was son of Zais.</string>
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@@ -448,6 +482,7 @@
<stringname="XVZGCB0a">Yeah, sure.</string>
<stringname="xzLIIPjB">A knave who could not abide other men's knavery! May such wonders never cease.</string>
<stringname="xZuqLfE7">But I was young and foolish. Bandits - well, who'd have thought? They're real animals. Always drunk and stabbing each other, or too drunk to feel cold so they catch the plague and end up coughing up blood, or drunk and asleep when the patrol comes around so they end up on the gallows - I suspect you get the idea.</string>
<stringname="Ycc0gsX9">I kill for a living. You don't look too wet behind the ears, so I'm sure I don't need to tell you any more about myself than that.</string>
<stringname="YDPpShfF">Sensible man, that Urkhun. Nomads are the enemy of order.</string>
<stringname="YfExAEAK">So, here I am, looking for a captain under whom to serve. And if I learn my trade well, perhaps I shall one day reclaim my birthright!</string>
<stringname="YgZJYYds">Few war leaders have the patience for followers with private vendettas.</string>
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@@ -461,18 +496,19 @@
<stringname="z9CN2ibp">They protected us, but they treated us with contempt. We were told to hew wood for them, to bring them water. We submitted. For the sake of our old, of our nursing mothers, we submitted. But it was hard for the young men to take.</string>
<stringname="Zb6ObDEB">Sounds like you have a good head for business.</string>
<stringname="zb6VN6rr">Started in the Vaegir guard. I found that I was the only real warrior among them. They were all about marching here and there in their pretty uniforms, not pulling sword from scabbard for months on end. I told them what I thought, and my captain told me to keep my mouth shut or leave. So I left.</string>
<stringname="zB8602VE">I'd fight for myself, but a month in irons has left me a bit unsteady on my legs. But if you stand for me and win, my mates in the Company will pay the fine and I'm sure afford you a handsome purse as well.</string>
<stringname="zdOaQbDp">I'll tell you my story. But if you would judge me for what I do, you're welcome to do so, but I do not care to hear it.</string>
<stringname="ZhZlhNfn">Aye, so you want my story then?</string>
<stringname="ZKJ2pEoL">A knife in the dark is a bandit's version of nobility, it seems.</string>
<stringname="ZN3QD4Ks">I'll tell you. I'll tell anyone who listens.</string>
<stringname="ZOVdtwbw">So, you want to know about the games that Fate has played with me?</string>
<stringname="ZoxPPYLX">I thought of going home. But I lost what denars I had saved during the riots. If there is a warband looking for good men, I would like to earn it back.</string>
<stringname="ZqWHeJ9B">Envy, yes, the only possible explanation for why your clan drove you out. Such a terrible sin!</string>
<stringname="ZRQIdapZ">I am a horsethief. I come from a region where to be a horsethief is an honorable profession, and I am very good at it. But it is dangerous work, as owners can be vindictive people, and I am seeking safer work - as a mercenary, perhaps.</string>
<stringname="ZSaGzgmN">My father was a judge, and I had intended to study the legal rulings of the past, so I could follow in his footsteps. But when I went to study, my master told me that only two kinds of scholars were needed these days: those who knew how to build and knock down walls, and those who knew how to stem the epidemics that spread from unburied bodies.</string>
<stringname="zTNhw5T6">I'm from a town near here. I won't say which one... Our family were protectors of our alley, and by that I mean that I thumped the head of anyone who tried to take away our rights. But the guard captain, he kept coming around demanding money and favors, and I couldn't thump his head. So now I'm looking for new work.</string>
<stringname="Zu4uBSxk">We Sturgians have a tradition. If two people have a dispute, and there's no witnesses, so it all comes down to one man's word against another's, then we let them settle it with swords. If one man doesn't like to fight, he can hire someone else to do the fighting. That's how it works with us. Probably other people do the same, because it's a good tradition.</string>
<stringname="ZuHolx2r">Professionally, it was perhaps the best thing I could have done. Fevers, injuries, festering sores - the seaman has in greater number and variety than any manner of land-dweller, I imagine. But I have little patience for life aboard, the monotony, the tyranny of captains, the lack of any space to oneself, the groaning of timbers, the constant smell of rotting bilge...</string>
<stringname="zwKDTWd5">But the old lord died, alas, and when my birthday came, his heir laughed at me. He told me that a fine horse would be wasted on me; perhaps I would like a goat. So that night I took the best animal in the stable, and rode off.</string>
<stringname="zX3hVUKI">It sounds like you had no choice.</string>
<stringname="zXJvWvD5">I'm a warrior. A soldier of fortune, you might say. A damn good one, too, as my enemies would tell you if they could speak from the other world.</string>
<stringname="zZfHxtS5">Honor must come first!</string>
<stringname="7poObaCF">Yes, they needed a strong king, like a herd of cattle on a mountain trail needs a herdsman who knows the trail. Herds in the mountains, you see... Sometimes the stubborn old bulls, set in their ways, wander off the trail and lead the others toward a precipice.</string>
<stringname="8faAcjLz">Echerion the Tyrant-Slayer was my ancestor. Wouldn't be right if I fought for an upstart demagogue like Garios or a half-foreign adventuress like Rhagaea, now would it?</string>
<stringname="91wurGIB">My family? I was adopted by the fen Gruffendoc but really, I have no family. I was sent directly by the Heavens as a gift to the Battanians. They didn't know it, but they needed a strong king.</string>
<stringname="9f11AsTw">My people are the people of the hills. Up here, we watch out for each other. Your life and wealth depend on your neighbors spottmming a Battanian raiding party coming your way. My people like Garios. They trust him. I'm not going to spill their blood fighting for anyone else.</string>
<stringname="9f11AsTw">My people are the people of the hills. Up here, we watch out for each other. Your life and wealth depend on your neighbors spotting a Battanian raiding party coming your way. My people like Garios. They trust him. I'm not going to spill their blood fighting for anyone else.</string>
<stringname="aifXT4E1">My grandfather did save the boyars, and ever since, their thankless heirs have tried to weasel out of that oath. They like to quarrel, and take what they want, and care nothing for the realm.</string>
<stringname="aRlW5rks">The Heavens know I loved Arenicos. I shed my blood for him. But his dream of peace with our neighbors was moonshine. You can have war on the frontiers or war at home. I prefer war on the frontiers. Let the men earn glory, gold, and tales to tell their grandchildren.</string>
<stringname="bFZrLY8W">My class was taught how to rule, and rule we should. But one of our number should always be above the others. Put us together in a Senate, as Lucon wants, and we will always quarrel and fight. Let an emperor or empress rule in the capital, and let their children succeed them, without any fuss. We shall give them a peaceful and prosperous countryside.</string>
<stringname="Jn4r0GjD">Bir alıcı bulmama yardım edebilir misin?</string>
<stringname="jnOa3cbK">Bu bilgiyi sana vermeden önce. Niyetini bilmem gerekiyor. Sancak imparatorluğu eski konumuna getirmek için kullanılabileceği gibi, yok etmek için de kullanılabilir.[sp:/Sounds/VO/mainquest/mntemp_q01_06.ogg]</string>
<stringname="jnOa3cbK">Bu bilgiyi sana vermeden önce, niyetini bilmem gerekiyor. Sancak, imparatorluğu eski konumuna getirmek için kullanılabileceği gibi, yok etmek için de kullanılabilir.[sp:/Sounds/VO/mainquest/mntemp_q01_06.ogg]</string>
<stringname="JOJ09cLW">Gidelim.</string>
<stringname="joRHKCkm">Ailenin, bir kervanı yakınlardaki şehirlerden birine götürecek güvenilir birine ihtiyacı vardı. Erzakları hazırladın, haydutları uzak tutmak için devamlı nöbet tuttun ve kervanı sağ salim varış noktasına ulaştırdın.</string>
<stringname="jPKIN2r4">Bir şey daha var. Soylularla ve diğer önemli insanlarla konuşurken, kendini uzak ama seçkin bir aileden gelen biri olarak takdim ettiğinden emin ol.</string>
<stringname="ZzR9VTU0">{CURRENT_LIEGE.NAME} sadakatiyle ünlü birisi değil. Neden ona bu kadar bağlısın?</string>
<stringname="VXHePMnL">Çok güzel, hemen çobanlara sizin birliğinize eşlik etmeleri için hazır olmalarını söyleyeceğim. Lütfen sürüyü götürürken dikkatli olun. Birkaçının kaybına dayanabiliriz ancak sürünün en az yarısının sağ salim gitmiş olmasını bekliyorum.</string>
<stringname="GCH6RgIQ">Ne kadar güçlüler?</string>
<stringname="Bki1eWt4">Karakterler ve Birlikler, çeşitli avantajlar ve bonuslar veren bir takım becerilere sahiptir. Uygulama ile beceriler artar. Artış oranı, beceriye yatırılan odak noktalarının sayısına bağlıdır. Beceri belirli bir eşiğe ulaştığında, ilave özel avantajlar sağlayan çeşitli {PERKS_LINK} sunulacaktır.</string>
<stringname="bz7Glmsm">Yetenekler</string>
<stringname="bz7Glmsm">Beceriler</string>
<stringname="CZDS1Cui">Bir yeteneğe yatırılan odak puanı sayısı, yeteneğin uygulama ile ne kadar hızlı gelişeceğini belirler. Odak puanı 0 ise ekstra odak puanı harcanması gerekir.</string>
<stringname="CzhaQCK0">Para</string>
<stringname="D2O141bZ">Her yetenek, ek avantajlar ve bonuslar veren bir takım niteliklere sahiptir. Yetenek puanları belirli eşiklere ulaştığında nitelikler kullanılabilir hale gelir. Çoğu nitelik, oyuncunun içlerinden bir tane seçmesi gereken alternatiflerle gelir.</string>
