Pologue
In these ancient and confusing times there are several ruling kingdoms, each complete with their own royal families. Lately though there had been a lot of war and bloodshed for what seemed to be every reason yet no reason at all. The royal families had good lives for the most part, especially if there were sons to take over the family line. There is one ruler though said to be heartless, cold, cruel, and possess magical abilities that could destroy the world. There are many different species here and each has their own culture and values. Some believed in slave trading, others believed in hoarding women in their prime reproductive ages, others were thieves, and yet they all shared a common view that power was everything. They all got their pieces of power in different ways, some through fear, others through admiration.... but there was one piece of the world that ran differently than any other. They were said to be barbarians and to not show any mercy to their enemies. Their leader, the most fearless of the bunch was obviously the ruler for their kind and no one outside of their tribe knew what he looked like. Some wondered why he had not destroyed everything yet and others speculated that he enjoyed war so much he didn't want to win it to have it end. Those are only some of the views though, others find his cause to be nobel and they enjoy the perks of his leadership style. No one seemed to be able to satisfy or make a treaty with the man which made things even worse. Several kings had tried to go up against him and they all failed, ending their royal lines and killing many others. Whole kingdoms fell and ways of life disappeared without anyone batting an eye. The world was and still is a terrifying place to be. Every year in an attempt to foster peace, traditions are shared and royal matches are made with rulers who are of age. This year was different though, since the fearsome leader has been of age yet refused to participate in the customs until now. Many were hoping to finally meet him and to learn about his barbaric ways.... others were terrified and wanted him away from their kingdoms. So the traditions this year would be held on no mans land so that there was some level of neutrality. The customs held were not always agreed upon, yet no one dared to call them out. That was the other thing about their leader... he never made allies, only enemies.
on the other side of the customs and traditions there were women who were married off for advantages or who were forced to participate in the customs. Women are seen as lower here and never had any power or got any recognition, so for a kingdom to have a daughter was more of an annoyance than anything. Several women in royal families were set to be of age this year and were not looking forward to married life after the training they received on how to please their husbands. There was also a lot of stigma around women being dirty and that if they lost their virtue they also lost their value. The standards were set and they had been the same for many centuries, no change had ever been tolerated. The men liked their power and the women didn't have any way to fight back effectively against whole armies, so they stayed obedient. The women also formed communities with each other and participated in gossip and choosing their husbands or planning their families. There wasn't much to look forward to especially as a royal female of age. While many of them tried to look their best and lure in a man, there was one who stayed far on the side lines, not wanting to draw any attention to themselves.
