The Kingdom was in trouble. The Guild Wars had caused a division. The nobility sought to replace the new King with one of their own. Adelbern was a soldier, not a nobleman, and certainly not a king. Not all of the nobles felt that way, however. Some saw the desire and ability to rule evenly and justly more important than bloodlines. They sought to preserve the kingdom, and took upon themselves a rune of identification, that through it they would know one another.
It all changed with the Searing. Lives were lost, cities destroyed, estates turned to ash. No longer were the petty struggles of the Guilds important, even though they were to continue. The world at large would no longer be affected. Everything seemed at an end.
From the ashes came a single surviving clan, one who remembered his father's just cause, one who saw in the King and the Prince hope for the future, a rallying point about which the survivors of Ascalon could gather and start again. When the time came to shoose between father and son, it was Prince Rurik's vision that won out - that and the recognition that the King's grief over the death of so many and the ruin of his kingdom had led to bitterness, to madness.
Now, the Runelords of Ascalon scour the land looking for survivors who hold true a belief in the future of Ascalon and a hope that Rurik is the man who can bring that future about.
((RUNE is just me at the moment but I have found no other guilds that adhere to lore and want to follow the story as members of the Kingdom, so I stand alone. Anyone wanting to join up, just email me from here and I'll make an effort to meet up in game. I am East Coast US and play in the evenings, though lately I haven't been in GW because it is tough to RP with henchmen).
Runelords of Ascalon RUNE - RP guild
Suilebhain