Al-Haikk, the majestic Arabian capital, home to everyone from the mightiest vizier to the lowest street urchin alike. For decades, the Sultan has done all he could do to right his nation’s past wrongs. He offered state apologies to the Estalians for Araby’s pre-crusades invasion of the then southern principality at the hands of Araby’s first ruler the despotic Sultan Jaffar, he sought to free the elemental Djinn from their shackled servitude and aimed to rid their caliphate of the vial criminal gangs that ran amok within city slums. For a while it seemed that this kingdom’s fortunes may indeed be well placed for the Bretonnian king agreed to open talks for the trade of Arabian textiles across the sea after the Fay Enchantress herself had been spotted wearing a dress sewn from Araby’s own fine silks. Yet all this growth paled in comparison to the day the Sultan heard from his dear wife that she had fallen pregnant with a daughter.

Months passed and all seemed right in Araby, the Bretonnian talks succeeded and soon trade flourished between the two kingdoms, a marked difference from their crusading histories. Furthermore, the palace’s secret police force the Hashishin were able to drive the foul Golden Magus from their city, forcing him and his gang of slavers back to the den of villainy known as Copher after the Sultan passed a new law stating that only people of foreign birth may legally be brought into slavery.

One evening in Spring, the Sultan and his wife the Sultana sat on the balcony of their palace admiring a glowing sunset as they looked over the ships making their final docking into the harbour for the day when they started talking about what they would call their child who the Royal Prophet of Ormazd had confirmed would be a daughter. The two playfully came up with names and teased each other for some time when by sheer coincidence, a flock of jasmine flowers were swept up from a nearby tree and flew by the royals’ balcony. Ultimately, the two decided that this event had been a sign from Ormazd himself and decided to name their daughter Jasmine after it. And so after nine months of waiting, Princess Jasmine Silverveil was born. The princess’ upbringing was relatively traditional for what one may expect of a Princess of Araby. She took deportment classes, was admitted to all the finest colleges of learning throughout Araby and excelled in dancing and singing. At the age of eight, the Sultan took her to the Elven island of Ulthuan to see its landscapes and be introduced to the Prince of Ellyrion, Lord Arandir Swiftwing, who the Sultan hoped she may marry some day in return for an alliance between both kingdoms, explaining to her that though the age gap may be large now, elves aged far slower than humans so the two would be far more alike by the time she grew up and was ready to wed. Still, Jasmine loved visiting such an alien landscape, was very grateful to the lord when he gifted her with an Ellyrion steed named Snowmane and became totally entranced by the continent’s magic, proclaiming to her father on the sail back that she wished to become a wizard one day.

Years passed and all seemed to be going to plan for the Sultan’s agenda of creating a thoroughly modern Araby. His efforts to quash corrupt officials and straight-up criminals from the towns of cities of “Araby Proper” (Araby minus Copher) had seen a vibrant increase in entrepreneurship and trade with the outside world, resulting even in the opening of Al-Haikk’s first ever foundry, a place which employed freed Djinn of Fire and Sand who kept the furnaces burning to condition fresh iron into steel to then be sold to the Countess of Nuln in return for the import of muskets and rifles. Yet in this time the now 15 year old Princess Jasmine had grown more rebellious, insisting that the few parlour tricks involving the Lore of Light she learned at her college was not enough and that she wished to truly see the world and its wonders. This grew worse when the Sultan reminded her of his pledge to marry her to the Elven Prince of Ellyrion one day which resulted in her storming out of the palace on Snowmane (which thanks to its Elven upbringing was easily the fastest horse in all of Araby). The Palace Guard searched the whole city for her but returned to the Sultan with dire news, she had been seen at a market being abducted by a street thief and taken away on a flying carpet!

In response, the Sultan and his wife travelled to Copher to bargain with the Master of the Thieves Guild, the so-called “Prince of Thieves” thanks to the extreme privilege granted to him by the weak-willed Vizier of Copher who feared insurrection from the Golden Magus. Tragically, negotiations turned sour and the thieves turned violent. The Sultan’s guards were able to protect him and get him to safety but alas, the same could not be said for the Sultana who died in the cross-fire. The Sultan returned to Al-Haikk with a sour heart as those he loved had been snuffed out so abruptly only to discover when he returned that Jasmine had never been abducted at all, she had instead been gallivanting across the Tilean sea and above the Principality of Luccini on a magic carpet ride with the thief which she had fallen madly in love with. She seemed besotted, babbling on about her whole new world experience which only made the Sultan frustrated for his wife’s needless death. And so everything changed from that day onward. The Sultan kept his political agenda since it seemed to be working but his heart no longer played any role in it, simply relying on diplomats rather than dealing with foreign leaders himself as he used to. Furthermore, he ordered the guards to install iron rivets to all the windows and to add locks to the stables to keep Jasmine inside the palace at all times. She was removed from her colleges in favour of hiring personal tutors from those institutions to come to the palace instead. Three years passed and Jasmine never saw the kingdom beyond the palace walls in all that time….and then, the Orcs came.

Following the demise of da Great Green Prophet, a sorcerous orc named Azhag the Slaughterer united the Savage Orc tribes and carved a path of bloodshed across the Great Desert. Martek fell first, only to be soon followed by Nejaz, Kufra and Ashdod as the Savage Orcs destroyed everything in their path. Copher held out slightly longer thanks to the Golden Magus’ powers over three of the few remaining enslaved Djinn elementals only to then be razed entirely after the wizard seemingly opened the city gates to challenge the orc sorcerer himself, leading to the Golden Magus and his city’s downfall. Lashiek held out for some time too as the port which housed the Sultan’s fleet commanded by Corsair Lord Sinba’ahd was stationed there to offer the city support. Sadly, when the port fell this also cut off a massive proportion of sea-based trade with the outside world meaning that a large aspect of the Sultan’s legacy had been squandered. Furthermore, the freed Djinn did not seem to appreciate him or his people for freeing them and simply vanished into the desert sand rather than owing a debt of duty to their nation and joining the war cause against the orcs. Meanwhile, the Tomb Kingdom of Lybaras ruled over by High Queen Khalida was only narrowly keeping the orc incursions at bay thanks to their ability to ressurect their fallen warriors. And so this brings us back to Al-Haikk, which for 46 days has managed to keep Azhag’s Waaagh! outside the city thanks to the city’s massive stone walls and timber city gates reinforced by iron cladding. This specific portion of the Waaagh! was led by a terrifying Savage Orc Big’Un named Grokka Goreaxe who Azhag had promoted to Bigga Waaaghbass as a means of avoiding a challenge to his status as Champion of Gork. Grokka stood almost a foot above his kin in height and wore nothing but a crudely cut war axe into battle. It was said that a lifetime of eating nought but bloodfungus had extended this orc’s periods of bloodlust up to three times as long as those of any other savage orc alive today.

Forty-six days passed and the city held its nerve for all it took for the city to fall in all that time was for one guard to mess his duties up. Just one error, and everyone would die by Grokka’s armies. Sadly, on the forty-sixth day exactly that happened, when a guard on watch duty decided to take a piss without asking another guard to cover his shift, thereby creating a blindspot which enabled a handful of Savage Orcs to climb up and over that section of city wall unnoticed to destroy the gate’s barricades from the inside out. The gate fell and the slaughter begun as Grokka personally led the opening charge into the city, lifting a city guardsman up off the ground by the throat with one hand before clenching that hand to break his neck a second or two later.

The orcs rampaged through the city, burning everything in sight and leaving mounds of filth in their place while Goreaxe headed straight for the palace. He smashed through the palace gates and killed the palace guards one by one causing the Sultan to run upstairs to Jasmine’s room where he then barricaded the door using a piano to hopefully keep the warboss out. The Sultan looked out through an iron-barred window in the hope that the Hashishin could hold the Orcs off but alas, that building was being swarmed by orcs which meant that the Master Assassin Malik Ibn La’ahd probably wouldn’t be of any help after all. Outside their door they heard Grokka storming through the palace killing everything in sight, causing Jasmine to speak to her father in their native tongue.

Jasmine: “I think this is the end father.”

Sultan: “No, I’m not going to let you die. Not again.”

Jasmine: “But there’s no choice. No-one else can help us now.”

Sultan: “The Spirit, the Spirit of the First Sultan can save you.”

Jasmine: “But there’s no such thing? He’s just a myth, and a horrible one at that.”

Sultan: “Well, we have no choice but to rely on the myth.”

Sultan (in raised voice): “I call out to the spirit which haunts this palace and beg an audience with the mighty Jaffar, Uniter of Araby, unfairly slain by the immoral Louis of Bretonnia. Speak to me oh great one!”

Jasmine: “No father, no don’t do that. We are in danger but please, do not ask Jaffar for help!”

*The temperature dropped by 2 or 3 degrees as a cold breeze entered the room*

Jaffar: “I am here.”

Sultan: “I cannot bear to see you die. So I’m making my final decision, I’m saving your life.”

Jasmine: “Father, listen to me, please. We don’t know what empowering the spirit allows him to do to you. You don’t know what you may be agreeing to!”

*The Sultan nodded at Jasmine’s remarks before turning to the spirit’s vague outline of a shape*

Sultan: ” Can you protect my daughter?”

Jaffar: “Her life can be saved.”

Sultan: “Then, then I’m asking you for help.”

Jaffar: “Do you consent to my assistance?”

*The sultan glanced towards his daughter fearfully before turning back to the spirit*

Sultan: “Yes, I give you my consent.”

Jaffar: “And is your consent pure?”

Sultan: “Just save my daughter please! You can have my country and my riches, just save her from that monster at the door. I consent.”

Jaffar: “You act out of love. Love is consent. I must be loved.”

Jasmine: “Father, do not make this deal! I forbid it!”

*The Sultan turned away from his daughter, as if staring fixated at a nearby wall*

Jasmine: “Father, can you hear me? What’s happening? Father? Father?”

Finally, the Sultan turned back towards his daughter. He looked much the same and she hoped the spell had failed for whatever reason only for his eyes to suddenly engulf in a bright orange light which left only his black pupils behind. The spirit of Araby’s first Sultan and the body of Araby’s last sultan had now merged… just in time to fight as Grokka Goreaxe finally smashed through the barricaded door…
….

• Angry React: Grokka charged straight towards the sultan who lifted his blade to take the thrust of the orc’s charge while he began casting his spell only for the orc to grab the sword by the tip of its blade, rip it from his hands and lift the sultan off the ground so he could envelop Jaffar’s new body in his arms, thereby allowing him to crush the human in his biceps.

Despite the Sultan’s sacrifice, it had all been for nothing as the immense orc stomped towards the princess. She unsheathed her own weapon, a ceremonial sword known as a Sword of Light for the way it could be used to reflect light spells but the orc simply slapped the sword from her. Grokka proceeded to wrap his hands around her head and applied pressure to it until her skull collapsed in on itself. From there on Grokka slaughtered every last inhabitant of the palace before rejoining his invading hordes outside to complete the demolition of Al-Haikk.
….

• Laugh React: Grokka barged towards Jaffar who attempted to fire shards of glass and metal screws from the window at the orc with his magic but the orc simply blocked most of them with his spare arm or simply brushed off any cutting they caused. From there, Grokka grabbed this Sultan and forced him to his knees by brute strength so that the orc could lift the axe over his head and bring it down to split the Sultan’s skull open.

However, while Goreaxe had been toying with the Sultan, the Princess started to climb out of the newly shattered window which the orc thought was weird given the fact this room had no balcony. However, despite the lack of balcony there was something to stop Jasmine from falling to her death on the other side. The thief she once fell in love with had heard of the city’s plight and flown here to save her life. Only this thief wasn’t any old thief, for he had climbed his way to the top as the new Prince of Thieves after the last one died during the attack on Copher! And so, Princess Jasmine escaped the palace and was whisked away to safety by the Prince of Thieves on his flying carpet while Grokka looked on in amazement…
….

• Sad React: The Sultan readied himself for the orc’s attack and leapt to the side when it came, allowing him to slash at the orc’s left arm with his blade to allow for an opening. From there, Jaffar used his magic to rip the bedroom window open causing shards of glass to magically levitate and be flung at the Orc’s skin, causing him to rear in pain after one such shard pierced a vein. However, this was only the beginning as the open window allowed Jaffar to summon a stream of sand into the room which the Sultan guided into Grokka’s exposed wounds. The sand coursed through his veins, causing his respiratory system to fail as a result of blocking blood from accessing the orc’s heart, until finally Grokka keeled over, totally suffocated by the mountain of sand inside his body.

However, Jaffar was far from over. He resented the Sultan for freeing the Djinn and blamed that decision for why the Orcs could invade the city in the first place. As such, he cast a spell across the city, binding all freed Djinn within a 10 mile radius to his own will, his own personal army of elemental warriors. The Djinn swept through the streets, unwilling to fight but unable to resist their master’s instructions. The savage orcs were decimated, especially upon realising Grokka had vanished over the course of the battle and fled from the city and its spirits, only to be caught in a tornado that Jaffar created beyond the city walls which slaughtered a further 60% of fleeing orcs while those who remained in the city were swept aside, burnt or drowned by the Djinn army of Araby.
Princess Jasmine looked on in horror at the Sultan’s actions and demanded that Jaffar release her father’s body now that their agreement had ended. But Jaffar only mocked the princess’ pleas, before reminding her that the Sultan offered Jaffar all his riches and his kingdom in his time of desperation, which Jaffar clearly intended to hold onto. He demanded that the princess swear loyalty to her new father and when she refused, he ordered the guards to escort her to the dungeons to “cool down”. Finally, with these Orcs vanquished, the Sultan ordered the guards to track down the Corsair Lord of Lashiek wherever he may now be based and tell him to prepare the invasion fleet. For though the Orcs may need to be dealt with first, it would not be long until Jaffar sought to unfurl over 600 years worth of Arab vengeance on the cretinous nations to his North who killed him so very long ago.
….

• Love React: The Sultan readied himself for the orc’s attack and leapt to the side when it came, allowing him to slash at the orc’s left arm with his blade to allow for an opening. From there, Jaffar used his magic to rip the bedroom window open causing shards of glass to magically levitate and be flung at the Orc’s skin, causing him to rear in pain after one such shard pierced a vein. However, this was only the beginning as the open window allowed Jaffar to summon a stream of sand into the room which the Sultan guided into Grokka’s exposed wounds. The sand coursed through his veins, causing his respiratory system to fail as a result of blocking blood from accessing the orc’s heart, until finally Grokka keeled over, totally suffocated by the mountain of sand inside his body.

From there, Jaffar cast a spell across the city, binding all freed Djinn within a 10 mile radius to his own will, creating his own personal army of elemental warriors. The Djinn swept through the streets, unwilling to fight but unable to resist their master’s instructions. The savage orcs were decimated, especially upon realising Grokka had vanished over the course of the battle and fled from the city and its spirits, only to be caught in a tornado that Jaffar created beyond the city walls which slaughtered a further 40% of fleeing orcs while those who remained in the city were swept aside, burnt or drowned by the Djinn army of Araby.
Princess Jasmine looked on in horror at the Sultan’s actions and demanded that Jaffar release her father’s body now that their agreement had ended. But Jaffar only mocked the princess’ pleas, before reminding her that the Sultan offered Jaffar all his riches and his kingdom in his time of desperation, which Jaffar clearly intended to hold onto. However, just as he said this he suddenly felt a twinge in his new stomach, followed by an itch on the back of his neck and a heating sensation at the tip of his skull.
Suddenly, an all out mental battle erupted between Jaffar and the true Sultan, causing the room around them to shake as the Sultan’s internal struggle manifested itself outwards. Jasmine watched and cheered her father on to defeat the spirit when she was suddenly knocked out by a vase which fell from a shelf behind her. Fortunately, when Jasmine woke up it was to her own father with no glimmers of Jaffar’s spirit in his eyes whatsoever. Jaffar had been vanquished… or had he?
….

• Wow React: The orc entered the room and charged at Jaffar only to suddenly be struck by a hail of glass shards magically levitating after being smashed from the bedroom window of which one flew straight into Grokka’s throat. The orc choked and reached for its throat to remove the shard, only to give the Sultan an opportunity to finish him off by thrusting his blade deep into the Warrior of Gork’s chest.

But Jaffar was far from over yet as he took to the window for a better vantage point from which he proceeded to cast several tornado spells inside the city to deal with the orc menace. Of course, the tornadoes did not distinguish between human and orc so in effect this meant an opportunity for Jaffar to indiscriminately destroy the orcs and punish the people of this once great city for deviating from his vision as Sultan over 600 years ago.
Princess Jasmine Silverveil begged him to stop his rampage but Jaffar grew tiresome of her complaints. Consequently, he cast a set of iron shackles between her hands and legs to keep her at bay while he focused on his next spell in which Jaffar used his magic to blast the bedroom wall apart. Jasmine became fearful, believing she might be about to die but Jaffar had something far worse in stall as he proceeded to throw himself off the edge, thereby forcing the Sultan’s body to plummet to its inevitable death.
Jasmine screamed as she watched her father die only to suddenly feel some mist creeping up her nostrils into her body. The shackles released and Princess Jasmine Silverveil rose to her feet with her eyes glowing orange as the spirit of Jaffar made itself at home in her body instead of her father’s. For despite the father’s physical prowess, Jaffar would always stand at risk of being forced out should the Sultan’s mind grow in strength. As such, by moving to this body and destroying the Sultan, Jaffar had effectively freed himself from the contract the Sultan consented to and had found himself a younger body which as the new Sultana of Araby, would surely prove very useful in granting Jaffar’s reign of terror a more friendly face which could easier rouse the support of the people.
But regardless of form, Jaffar’s intentions remained the same; to expand the Sultanate beyond even its pre-crusades majesty as a true world power and unleash his vengeance on the Bretonnian and Imperial states which had killed him in the first place. And though the true Jasmine lay somewhere deep within the recesses of Jaffar’s mind, he had no intention to ever let her free again.