Introduction:

   It was the fourth year of the reign of King Orson and the King still had no
legitimate son to succeed the throne of Celendia.  Queen Shiris, devoted to the
Goddess of Earth and Fertility, Marva, had been praying daily at the Goddess'
shrine hoping that she would bear a son.  Despite many years of devoted prayer
she was only blessed with two beautiful daughters.  The Queen constantly urged
the King to pray with her at the shrine but he always rejected the idea.  One
day, after learning it was the birthday of the Goddess, the King agreed to pay a
visit.  Upon his arrival at the shrine, a sudden gust of wind lifted the curtain
exposing the Goddess' sacred image.  Astonished by such incredible beauty, the
King was overcome by lust.  He started to write a frivolous, obscene poem on the
wall of the shrine to express his desire for the Goddess and to take her to the
palace and make her one of his consorts.

   Upon returning to her shrine and reading the profane poem written by the King
of Celendia, Goddess Marva was deeply outraged and swore to punish the debauched
King.  However, Heaven had ordained that King Orson would still reign for
several more years.  Therefore, she called upon one of her loyal attendants and
instructed her to destroy the King and to pave a way for the new king.  Marva
insisted that no innocent people to be harmed.

   Meanwhile, at the palace, the King was still infatuated by the Goddess'
exquisite beauty and spent almost every day daydreaming about her.  Unable to
contain his desire, the King ordered his ministers to search the country to find
a beauty like the Goddess.  One of his ministers suggested there was a well-
known beauty named Ruby who lived not far from the capital city.  The King
impatiently ordered his ministers to summon her immediately to the palace.

   Little did anyone know that on the way to the palace, an evil spirit had
secretly killed the real Ruby and possessed her body.  Upon seeing her, the King
was instantly enchanted by Ruby and from then on the kingdom fell into oblivion 
and total decay.  All the King ever did was indulge in worldly pleasure with his 
new consort, Ruby, and neglected all the kingdom's stately affairs.  Many loyal
ministers and followers who dared to criticize the King's decadent behavior were
put to death -- almost all of them at Ruby's suggestion.  Ruby's heinous schemes
kept on as she finally was able to frame Queen Shiris with the charge of trying
to poison and kill the King.  Ruby managed to force the Queen to commit suicide
after first torturing her to near-death.  As Ruby ascended to become the Queen,
her hands, which had been tainted by blood of countless innocent people, became
known was as Bloodruby, a name she quickly accepted and enjoyed.

   It was clear that the King's reign would not last much longer.  Allies had
distanced themselves and many of loyal ministers and generals had left the
kingdom in search of a new place to serve -- and a new king.  Thus began the era
of chaos and instability as uprisings broke out in all four sides of the
kingdom.

Introduction for Player 1 (Red):

   The fertile land of Xeqi had always been flourishing under the rule of
Governor Hiro.  With a strong economy and booming population, it's no wonder
Xeqi had grown in power over time.  Governor Hiro had been ruling Xeqi territory
ever since the reign of the first king of Celendia and he had served the King
with undying loyalty.  Governor Hiro was one of a few loyal court members who
constantly and openly criticized the King for neglecting his royal duties and
indulging in Bloodruby -- to no avail.  Bloodruby could never accuse the
Governor of treachery or put him to death because as one of the greatest
generals who had ever served the kingdom, Governor Hiro carried a royal sword,
an insignia from the founder of Celendia.  The bearer of the sword could speak
his opinions in the royal court without fear of insubordination or execution.
Needless to say, the Xeqi Governor soon felt so helpless and disgusted by the
King's debauchery that he asked the King if he could return home permanently.
He was allowed to leave only on one condition; that his eldest son was to stay
in the palace to represent Xeqi.  After much deliberation, the Governor agreed
with the King's terms and headed home.

   Upon arriving home, the Xeqi Governor was highly stunned to find that almost
all of his loyal followers and ministers urged him to declare Xeqi as
independent and to raise arms against the kingdom to get rid of the evil
Bloodruby and save innocent lives.  The Governor was at first angry at the idea.
Nevertheless, sudden, shocking news changed his mind.  Soon after his departure
from the palace, Bloodruby, not wanting to waste another moment, managed to
frame the Governor's eldest son and put him to death.  Clearly disillusioned,
saddened, and enraged, the Governor agreed to follow his advisors' suggestion to
raise arms against the kingdom for justice and declared Xeqi's independence.

   There are some big problems however, even though Xeqi soldiers had been
undergone rigorous training, they had never experienced real war.  Moreover, the
biggest obstacle of all is that the Governor was never fit to lead a lengthy
campaign -- not at his age, and especially not after the heart wrenching
experience losing his eldest son.  Furthermore, the Governor's two other sons
were all still too young to command a large army.  The Governor decided that he
would not wage war before he could find a worthy person to lead Xeqi's armies.

    One day soon afterward the Xeqi Governor had a dream.  In his dream, an
unnamed Immortal dressed in white robe encouraged him to find someone by the
name of Zeya, who lived in the valley of Mount Kenshin, a few days journey from
Xeqi.  The immortal assured the Governor that Zeya, having trained by the
Heavenly Master Nuriko, would fit to lead Xeqi's armies to victory.  Upon
consulting with his advisors, the Governor decided to make the trip.  Finding
Zeya proved to be no easy task.  However, one day, he saw a fisherman who sits
idly fishing.  Oddly enough, he was fishing with straight hook.  Zeya believed
that he would rather succeed by being straight than being crooked.  As destined
by Heaven, Zeya agreed to help the Xeqi Governor and he was soon appointed as
the Xeqi Premier.  Thus, begin Zeya's conquest to lead Xeqi's armies to seek
justice from the evil Bloodruby and the debauched King.

Introduction for Player 2 (Blue) :

   Although he had no sons, King Orson had two daughters with Queen Shiris:
Pillar and Shana-Shana.  Upon learning the death of Queen Shiris in Bloodruby's
hands and the fact that the King didn't even care to try to save her, the two
little Princesses were in obvious danger of death.  Luckily, an Immortal by the
name of Sage Zelgadis of Mount Lina rescued them and made the two Princesses,
who were just 12 and 11 years of age, his disciples.

   Four years later, the two Princesses were grown and ready to take revenge for
the death of their mother by Bloodruby's hands.  However, as fate has it, on the
way to return to the palace, hoping that their father would at least recognize
them, the two Princesses saw flyers posted everywhere.  The King proclaimed he
had disowned the two Princesses and that a handsome reward would be given to
whomever could bring the two Princesses back to the palace dead or alive.  It is
clear to them that their father no longer wanted them and that returning to the
palace would mean foolish death by the hands of Bloodruby.

    The only way the two Princesses could think of was to take refuge to their
uncle's place in Dadarin.  Fortunately for them, their uncle welcomed them with
open arms and he even offered to support the Princesses against the wicked King
and Bloodruby.  Besides, both Pillar and Shana-Shana were strong enough to
challenge Bloodruby after intensive training with the Immortal Sage.  After
showing much appreciation, the two Princesses agreed to wage war to overthrow
their own father.  There's no reason anymore to hang on to family ties not after
the King was also responsible for the Queen's untimely death and, especially,
not after the King wanted his own daughters dead.

Introduction for Player 3 (Tan) :

    Druva and Zeya had both been studying under the tutelage of Heavenly Master
Nuriko of Mount Kenshin since they were quite young.  Druva was a senior to Zeya
and by all means Druva surpassed Zeya's talent and abilities.  With a flick of
his hands, Druva could call upon a big fireball while Zeya would need to muster
all his magical powers to do the same thing.  However, Zeya was always the
Heavenly Master's favorite student and it's no surprise that the Heavenly Master
recommended Zeya as the chosen one to lead the army that would bring down the
Kingdom of Celendia.

   Enraged by the fact that the gods of Heaven did not choose him instead, Druva
left Mount Kenshin to prove to his teacher that he was more capable than Zeya
would ever be.  Druva offered his service to the ruler of Zerdam and was quickly
accepted.  Zerdam had been eyeing to attack Celendia for quite some times and
Druva finally convinced the ruler that the time was ripe to attack and seize
control of the entire kingdom.  With his exceptional Sorcery talent, Druva was
appointed as the chief commander in the assault on the Kingdom of Celendia.
After hearing the news that Zeya had also started to lead Xeqi's armies to war,
Druva's rage's strengthened and he's more determined than ever to destroy Zeya
once and for all.

Introduction for Player 4 (Green) :

   The Barbarian kingdom of Mink had for years been in constant war against the
Kingdom of Celendia.  However, under the great command of the highly-decorated
General Ascot of Celendia, many attempts of invasion led by the Barbarians'
leader, Iason, proved to be disastrous.  The recent news about the degeneration
of the enemy kingdom and the King revived Iason's hope to launch an invasion of
Celendia and topple their despotic ruler, King Orson.

   Furthermore, the time would never again be so perfect.  Not only had General
Ascot finally withdrawn his armies to the palace, but also the leader of the
Beastmaster tribes, a lifelong friend of Iason, Rikki, had offered to join
forces.  Separately, the two would have never dreamed to oppose the armies of
Celendia, but together, they would have enough power to bring down even the
mightiest kingdom!
