The Plague of Danielland; The calm in the storm

Courtney looked out from the palace. Ruling Stormguarde was, compared to ruling any of the other major states of the universe, pretty easy. The population was diverse, but with a population consisting of 90% immortal to very longlived races people tended not to enter into any sort of persoal conflicts. Even just keeping someone's lawn mower too long could have repercussions hundreds of years later.

The Palace was a 'dark district'. Herself a Vampire, she tended to prefer the company of her own kind. They were mostly of her own coven; the Yellsdana. They had historical ties to the city older than even most of her famiy realized. The whole station had been founded by their foremother. The storm mage had built it as a private fortress, during the war she'd expanded it to house refugees. Her Father had lead them here; after Johr had killed him she'd lead the coven.

The immortals were mostly friends or servants of the storm mage. They'd been here as long as there'd been a stormguarde. The Pantheon, of which she was only the second Vampire to be a part of, had taken up residence here. Most immortals lived here, or at least had a house and some servants.

No one was really sure when the Elves had showed up. Stormguarde had been the last bastion of the living during the great war; several races had arrived then. The elves just seemed to be the only one that never left. The heavy Ley energies woven through the station probably appealed to them.

It was a good life. Even during the war no one had dared attack; Her illustrious ancestor had forged the nebula so that it provided light, air, and the most perfect defense in the universe. Ships had to be made of metal, a single bolt of lightning from the raging storm ended any threat. A few of the Wardens were assigned to identify targets and coax the storm as enemies approached. And the nature of the whole place was such that they could relocate if nessesairy.

Not that she didn't have problems. Since the coniving Lich Xandathu had struck the human colonies they'd been dealing with the repercussions. She'd dispatched two of her nephews and a squad of rangers to investigate rumors of an expansionest cult there. The Nielda of the old empire, Danielland, were ready to go to war to stop the threat; the Nielda of the new empire, Seclora, were blocking them on the grounds of an old non-intervention treaty. She'd been hoping one of the other immortals would take an intrest and deal with it. Petra would have been preferable; but she was in exile, again.

"Milady, we've just recieved word from Emperor Kvald the fifth. The entire empire has just been bombed with some sort of new plague."
"Why should I care? We all know the Nielda won't be hurt."
"It seems to be a custom tailored variety of Xandathu's plague. It acts on the blood. Seventy percent of the population is expected to succumb within the next thirty-six hours. He's going to launch a counter-offensive."
"Heaven help them all."

So much for peace. And she was just getting used to it.