Once upon a time, the wise, evenhanded, and benevolent King Darren ruled over the prosperous, if often rainy, land of Madesco with his two sons always by his side. The eldest son, William, was as well-loved as his father and the crown jewel for the kingdom's figurative crown, but the younger of the two, Charles, was not impressive in any way. In truth, he was more remarkable in how abysmally he did in some things, than how worthy he was in others. It is perfectly fine for a younger son of a king to be perfectly average, or even below average, though, and the Prince Charles looked forward to always being a prince, for he loved his elder brother more than anyone, except, of course, for the good King Darren, who was the proudest father to ever be found.
Things would have proceeded to continue in this peaceful manner, but for one thing; little more than a month after the old king had died, his eldest son was struck by the plague. It was a terrible and shocking thing for the entire kingdom, and particularly for the younger Charles, who had never expected the burden of the crown. Everyone's hopes had been on William, and it was he who was given the proper lessons and the practice in court. After Charles had turned twelve, it was determined that the young prince's aptitude lay in other areas, since he neglected to pay attention anyway.
Never the less, the new king was determined to earn the peoples love. The young king had always had a good heart, though not quite as good as his brother's, some might say. He surrounded himself with the finest ministers, advisors, and philosophers as he could find, not only in his kingdom, but all the surrounding ones. Only one among them was a mistake, but he happened to be the one to truly win Charles's ear.
At first his advice was good, but too soon he taught the new king to love power, which is never a good thing to those who have it. Charles forgot his love to his brother, and instead became seeped in bitterness at the way that everyone had treated him. So soon they had been ready to give up on him in favor of paying more attention to William. Who was to say that he wouldn't have been just as good or perhaps even a better king than William if he was given a chance? Nevertheless he did not forget that his old love was a love that his people still had. Slowly but surely, the changes began.
He grabbed tighter control of the military, and they moved in against the people he feared, or rather, that the beady eyed philosopher had taught him to fear. First to go were the lords, and many others were with them, but our tale concerns mainly the banishment of those who could use magic.
One village, Galoth, lay dangerously close to an enchanted forest, and living so close to such a raw source of magic, they had to often counter it with magic of their own. There, even with purple eyes being so rare, every generation gave another sorceress to the small village, for magic knows how best protect those that it loves. When magic was legal, she would be a queen among her people, for if ever she wished to she could leave and easily make herself a better fortune elsewhere. In the capital, there were plenty of positions that could only be filled with magic, and any sorceress automatically had an equal rank to Duchess. A pretty or charming young sorceress could easily obtain a position in the royal court. However, because magic protects those that it loves, when magic users were banished, and children born with purple eyes killed, very, very few were born, and none near the king. But the people of Galoth had learned to depend so heavily on the protection of a sorceress, that they could no longer live without one. So, as always before, there was a child born with eyes deeper then violets, and she was hidden from the king's men. The only thing that had truly changed was the people's attitudes.
While the young girl might have been a queen before, now she was little more than a slave. Instead of having to fight to keep her in the village, she couldn't leave for fear of banishment or death, depending on what mood the king was in. So, the balance of power shifted to the villagers, who became clumsier and clumsier when dealing with the forest, for they knew that they could not be refused help.
But as the best and worst of kings do, the King Charles died, and at a remarkably young age too. As he had no heir, it looked for a while as though his most trusted advisor Bob, who he had named Most High Councilor and Most Powerful Man in the Kingdom of Madesco Only After The King,(Charles had never had a way with words) would become king, and no doubt this was his plan when he murdered the king.
There was, however, a most glorious revolution led by a distant cousin of the king's, who had been quietly gaining support amongst the common people and the banished lords. He had been planning the revolution for some time before the murder of the king and found that to be the opportune moment, but that is a wonderful story all its own. Bob lost his head when it was chopped off in front of a cheering crowd, and the kingdom had a handsome new king, who was everything they had hoped that the crown prince William would be. One of his first acts was to renounce all banishments made be the last king, including those of magic users. But the attitude that the small village had did not change. As you have almost certainly predicted, that is where our story goes next…