Magical Crowns (SGE AU fan fic)

Two Kingdoms

Calmaria was the name of the kingdom where the famed magical pen, the Storian, resided. It was ruled by sorcerers. In fact, only those with wizard blood could ascend the throne, otherwise the Woods would lose its magic (though many have believed this a superstition). These rulers vowed to protect the Storian at all costs and respect its neutrality.

Unfortunately this vow was more often than not unkept. Endless wars for the throne and the Pen erupted-- the worst The Great War in particular. Two brothers of the current ruling family, the Mistrals, were fighting for the control of the Pen- both were twins, so legally they could rule together. Presumably, the war was started by the Evil Brother.

One of the brothers were killed and one ruled alone-- though who, the people didn't know. Their king was very secretive about his identity. He was known as "the King" or the "School Master" for the royalty owned School for Good and Evil. Only those in court and in the castle knew who he was, and they swore not to tell under pain of death. Anybody who tried to find out was usually killed or imprisoned. It was assumed that the Good Brother won, because all the victories went to the Good side.

The people were not very happy with the ruling family. The Mistrals were well-known for their corruption and immorality, using their magic and power to get what they wanted. The previous Queen had killed the wife of her lover, and then her husband was reported to be extremely violent, mutilating a servant for something ridiculous. It was no surprise, the people thought, that he was placed in some kind of mad house.

Camelot was the second most powerful force in the Woods. It was once a glorious kingdom under King Arthur's better years. Camelot was associated with all that was noble, pure, and good. But disaster hit when Queen Guinevere had so scandalously ran off with Arthur's best friend and best knight Lancelot. Arthur had turned to drinking, and his once great kingdom fell to ruin. To make matters worse, a group of his advisors, Mistrals, unsurprisingly, had wormed their way into royal favor and embezzled Camelot funds. The heir, Tedros, had them imprisoned.

The people had placed hope in Tedros. He had attended the famed School for Good and Evil and even found his queen and future wife there. The Storian itself had written about them often! But at the coronation, Tedros could not pull out Excalibur, had brought back the exiled Guinevere and Lancelot despite their disfavor, and had chosen an "ugly" queen, in their eyes.

Besides the crowd felt depressed at seeing the castle falling apart. At least they had a royal wedding to look forward to, to comfort them about the fact that they had no official king for a strange reason. But even this made them uneasy. What if his queen had malicious intentions towards Tedros? After all she did look rather sinister...