how it all started

Few things are worse than being stuck on an island… except maybe being stuck on an island with your oldest enemy. It all started out with a war that was short on arms, and two rivaling families that had four arms more than they needed. Word on the horizon spoke of a war without soldiers, and rich natives that were hiring mercenaries. Since rumor knows no bias, the same treasure drew both families to the strange mainland. Tempted into battle by greed for exotic treasures, both rivaling families were drawn to the same prospects, and by a turn of fate they found themselves fighting, side by side, for a promise that was never theirs. Within days, their homes wanted their heads, and their wives had clawed them off. When they were no longer needed at war, they were stuck on the mainland, unable to turn back home, with no other place to go.

It didn’t look good…On all fronts.

They pitched their tents in place of their barracks, and for a century they prospered…at an arm’s distance. Unable to break them by war, the natives set out to break them in peace. Now that the natives got what they wanted, the two families were no longer of use, and had overstayed their welcome. On New Year’s Eve at the turn of the century, a banquet was set. The two families had lived together for a long time, fought on the same side and shared the same lands. It was time to let bygones be bygones. In celebration, it was decided that the houses will be joined by blood to end their age-old animosities, and the natives offered the gift of a circus. But the gift was poisoned, for the circus was really a black market, where bids were placed against both families. The shows offended both sides, and both sides didn’t know neither had placed the bids. You see, the natives wanted them out, but lacked the arms. With a little wine and consequences, it was all set.

It was a night of firsts.

In wanting to join what was broken by blood, they broke the blood that was already joined. And all it really took was a circus show with a clumsy bear clad in the wrong plaid armor. You see, the two families really hated each other, but a hundred years is a long time to hold both the grudge and the story behind it. Most of us don’t remember what we had for lunch. And thusly, a new beginning looped into a new end. The natives successfully drove the families off the mainland to a nearby island, where they fought, and fought, and fought, and fought, and fought, and fought, and fought.