The Pace of Monuments

In 2345 Three Rivers began building what would be later known as the Alpha stone structure. The goliath of a statue was constructed on the Eastern face of Autumns Mountain. The constuction was overseen by Lord Sirrupan. It depicted an unnamed soldier dressed in the traditional half plate full knights outfit, as held in the highest regard by Three Rivers. Construction passed fairly uneventfully by the days standards, less than a dozen men dying on site. Interestingly enough, a similar structure began to surface in Chattilion two years later, just months before the face of the soldier was finished and the flags put up. It was a massive obelisk, with the names of every soldier that fell during the Ginsburg War of 2312. Countless names appear, and it remains one of Chattilions most pridefull pieces. The tower took nearly twenty years to complete, but when unvailed it made everyone in the south look to Three Rivers for a magnificent counter.

Seven years after the Obelisk of Honor had been erected, the King of Three (James i' the Thirteenth) had declared that nearly all of the capitol reserve would be placed into the largest construction ever. Apparently, Chattilion had been boasting about its superior monument, and how it cast a shadow over Three Rivers land (This is in fact a myth, the obelisk would have to be 2,300 feet high to cast a shadow reaching TR territory, as calculated by Kai society. It turns out that the shadow people had assumed was the obelisk was simply a large redwood atop a mountain. Any astute obsever would realize that the shadow could not stretch that far.) In response, the King of Three announced that the home of the Golden City would cast a shadow of gold to its nieghbors, reminding them who is the alpha male in the pack. The third most complicated structure had began to formulate, known only as Goldhope.

Goldhope was designed and planned by Erindricktalos Forenzia Tangos, known less formally as Erindrick Tangos. He was considered the most intellegent man at the time, and had done various city planning projects for many of Three Rivers and Chattlions projects. He was hired by Three for a huge amount of bounty, and accepted the offer immediately. After seven weeks of planning, Goldhopes blueprints finally take form. It involved nearly 100 tons of Solid Gold, 500 Tons of Solid Brass, 20 Tons of Adamantium and 100,000 lbs of iron. So much stone was needed that the project had to be within 10 miles of a mountain by river, of the project costs would be impossible. The final product was supposed to be the Three Rivers royal crest, with water constantly running through the massive structure from the XXX river.

Many problems surfaced as the project began. For one, the King insisted that the structure bear a shadow over the lands of Chattilion. Another, the project was unbearably expensive. But the largest problem was the sheer weight of the structure. It needed to be at least 240 feet high, if 100 feet away from the banks of the river.

Meanwhile, back in Chattilion, the king began to worry. He was of course watching the project, and in fact had a special keep built just to watch the construction. He responded in the way any pridefull king would, and tried to block the project. He knew that direct interferance would be cause for war, and he certainly didn't want that. But he couldn't let this stand. So, he hired a team of thinkers to come up with a solution. The Wall of Strength was conceived.

The kings advisors assured him that if a wall painted black was erected just where the shadows the Goldhope would be, there would be no shadows on his land. The plan seemed easy enough, and the wall would only have to be about 60 feet high by the lead scientists calculations. So the stone wall began to take shape. The only problem was the king wanted one homogenus structure, without a single porous crack. And because of season sunlight positions, the wall had to be 300 feet long.

The king of Three was outraged. His entire plan was being compromised. The solution came simply enough. Make the thing bigger. And so he did, at the expense of rations, and army, the structure grew in height.

Surprisngly enough, the King of Chattilion did the same, his at the cost of Shipbuilding.

Of course, the battles raged on for months, and eventually both cities were exhausting invaluable resources to make the damn things bigger.

Eventually, the King of Chattilion was warned that his 700 foot long and 300 foot tall stone wall was far to big and would collapse under the soft clay that the bank provided. The King of Three was delighted, for a very brief amount of time. His scientists had gone to the same universities as King of Chattilion men, and they quickly came to the realization that the Goldhope would collapse because of the loose soil near the river bank. Both respective groups of scientists warned their kings fiercly.

The king of Three declared "I will not fail this project. Divinity has always been on Three's side, and I'll never forget that."

The king of Chattilion made a similar edict.

Just as both projects future seemed dismally collapsing under the soft soil, Orcs began to appear. Both countries knew what the smaller, lean orcs meant. Scouts. Orcish intel must have been keen enough to pick up on the staggering economies of both nations under the pressure of the frivelous monuments. Both kings chose to continue the projects anyway, uninterested in brutish orcs that they had defeated using the strength of unity for millenia.

That spring, just after the twenty third rainfall, an Orcish invasion struck southern Three and southwestern Chattilion. They advanced heavily and beat both sides armies fairly easily. The mistake in the nations was that they were fighting independant of eachother, and many even claim that they had a few interhuman battles amidst the terror. Both sides deny this, as per the pact of 2130 not to ever draw blood from their brother nation. In any case, the Orcs were advancing.

It is estimated by modern thinkers that the orcs reached 23 miles inward of Three and about 12 into Chattilion, based on stone weapons found in the area. In any case, both sides were beggining to worry, but refused to yeild on the battle to make a larger monument.

The Orcs began heavilly reinforcing, and legend has it that in a pocket between the mountains and the two nations, over 100,000 orcs made their home.

Things looked bleak for the nations, who would soon feel the terror of orcs being in their precious lands.

And yet, their advisors warned them to stop the construction, and focus on the war, and they refused.

Just as the orcs prepared for a major incursion (no one is sure which city they would siege first) a rare token of faith took place.

The kings both slept terribly one night, fearing for their lands and envious of their neighbors. Niether had slept, according to documentation. Most of the people in the land were woken at dawn anyway by a strange tremor was felt throughout the land, followed by a great crashing sound. Both kings immediatly got on horseback with gaurds to the monuments, to see if the other had collapsed it. They both found what they thought was terrible fortune, the two structures leaning against eachother, across the length of the massive river. The King of Three was livid, the Eagle that was pure gold was destroyed and flecks of gold were flowing down the rivers current. He ran over to the king of Chattilion and they spoke in confidence for over an hour. According to nearby advisors, the conversations began heated and ended calmy.

Two weeks later, with their joint efforts, the mass majority of the orcs were drivin back. The kings, though selfish, were both intellegent and loved their lands. They both decided to attack immediatly, knowing that the orcs would be caught off gaurd.

According to legend, the orcs were pulverized by the joint forces. Some say it is because the orcs were jumping into the strong river to salvage the gold that the Kings had ignored.

Of course, the selfish kings were wrong, and the scientists were right all along. Halfway through the projects, both structures collapsed. In fact, according to legend, the King of Three had been alerted of a slow collapse, and he secretly met personally with the King of Chatillion and asked him to collapse his wall so the wall would protect the gold and precious medals from the rivers mighty current. Of course, the Three Rivers bards sing the opposite way, but perspective is important.

In any case, the story is most often told to teach children of the strenght in unity, and how pride can be dangerous when placed in front of life. The projects have since been redone to make a giant golden archway across the river, symbolizing their unity. Various stone statues are found in a walking position along the golden archway to signify the soldiers lost in the recent orcish invasions, referred to as the Goldhope invasion. The bridge was originally designed for crossing, but graffetti and other defacing was occuring so it is now only traveled by special teams for upkeep occasionally. Two bridges were built on either side of the arches, so people can observe the beautiful structure.

When the two nations are having a dispute, many patriots cover the bridge with black cloth.